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october already!
i'm not sure where September went. too quickly
by for sure... garden news, still working on the first strawberry patch. we had hot enough weather that i didn't accomplish much last week. finally we catch a few days of cooler weather with some rains. not that it helped make the subsoil i'm removing any easier to break up. stuff is like concrete. no surprise the strawberries in there didn't do that great, but the subsoil is a foot and a half down, the top layer wasn't too bad. i'm going that deep because i've wanted to lower this patch ever since it has been there. no reason to mound it up really other than a few flash floods which don't last long enough and aren't a bother to strawberries anyways. should have the flash flooding under control well enough anyways now. and i can move the tulips out of there that i've already dug up several times, but always miss a few. i suspect i may still miss a few anyways... and some deep rooted weeds that are best removed carefully by hand so as to not break up chunks of the root which can regrow (sow-thistle, one of the worst garden weeds for clay). yesterday i finally filled in the center part i'd dug out and it is already replanted. filled it in with a mix of sand, stuff that needs to rot eventually (bean shells and squash vines/leaves), and stuff that is already mostly rotted (wood chips/pine needles) along with some of the existing clay (about 1/4). now i won't need a pickaxe to weed it and if i've missed any of the sow-thistle root pieces it won't be so hard to get the rest out of there. mainly though, i get to redo the edge of the patch so i don't need to crawl over or around rocks to get in there to pick or weed. there's way too many ankle breaking/twisting rock edges as it is. i'm gonna flatten this puppy out and give me spaces to go through and figure out something else to do with the rocks... the stepping stones i already have are flat enough. i still have wheelbarrows of dirt/subsoil to move and as usual one project begets another. i've been scraping some of the old decayed woodchips from the garden where the lima beans are growing. and there's yet another ankle breaking/twisting rock trench along there that is begging to be dealt with. so... i'm going to remove the rocks and fill it in so it will be brought up to the level of the neighboring path and the whole area will be a garden i can have several rows of beans/peas or whatever instead of a narrow strip surrounded by woodchip mulch (not very productive use of the space before, but it was a flower garden that has been removed and turned into veggie production now). that's a few hundred more square feet of full sun space and the soil is very nice in there already. i'll use some of the decayed wood chips in there too, but most of them are going to end up in the strawberry patch as i will then not need to do anything in there for a few years other than to weed and top off a little at the end of the season (after the ground freezes). at least that is the plan... today a little painting too, the garage sill i put in this past spring is holding up and sticking well, a few very tiny cracks are showing from the differences in cement batches i did when i was putting it down (hand mixing in small amounts i couldn't get it all mixed and placed at once). it needs to be protected before the winter gets here and we start dripping muddy/salty water on it... hopefully three coats will do it (or until the quart of paint runs out). in other news, still picking and shelling beans, the rains we so sorely needed were not really wanted now with the beans finishing up, but that is usual for me and the later fall. the push-pull of wanting rains because when it is too dry some of the gardens are too hard to do much with (the rest are much nicer now after years of planting, amending and giving the worms plenty to work with) and the desire for things to be dry so that the beans won't rot or start sprouting in the pods before i can get them picked. it really hasn't been a great year for the beans. strange weather, high heat, storms at just the wrong times, cold spells, etc... the plight of a gardener. :) i have planted enough varieties that i'm getting some return for my efforts but it is a fraction of what a normal year can be like (was hoping for between 50-100 lbs, will be more like 30lbs) most plants the pods are empty or only a few pods have beans. at least the ones i was most worried about not having anything from i have been able to find some pods with beans in them now to restock a little of the seed supply. they are a very nice thin green bean and the seeds are long and narrow and they are apparently very finicky about setting seeds. i could have eaten a lot more of the beans but i left almost all of them because i wanted to restock the seed supply. tomatoes are done and gone, the plants need to be taken down and buried. peppers are still doing ok. there should be a few red ones out there to harvest in a few days. squash is in and curing. we had a wheelbarrow full (much better than five wheelbarrows full). the quality is overall very good compared to last season. only two that i've noticed will have to be cooked up right away (instead of several dozen). not having much rain the past month and a half kept the fungi from doing much or even starting up at all. ok, enough rambles, time to get busy, ... songbird |
october already!
On 10/1/2017 8:43 AM, songbird wrote:
i'm not sure where September went. too quickly by for sure... Everything gets faster when you're aging. September was a good month for us, I turned 78, wife got the fall garden, such as it is, in, the kumquats are still getting bigger, the ten or eleven pears on the tree are getting larger, my back still hurts. G garden news, still working on the first strawberry patch. we had hot enough weather that i didn't accomplish much last week. finally we catch a few days of cooler weather with some rains. not that it helped make the subsoil i'm removing any easier to break up. stuff is like concrete. no surprise the strawberries in there didn't do that great, but the subsoil is a foot and a half down, the top layer wasn't too bad. Hot weather, move to this part of Texas,we had several days at 100F or a little more. Not all together but maybe once or twice a week. We're used to it and we have air conditioning that is wonderful. i'm going that deep because i've wanted to lower this patch ever since it has been there. no reason to mound it up really other than a few flash floods which don't last long enough and aren't a bother to strawberries anyways. should have the flash flooding under control well enough anyways now. Lots of flooding in Harris Cty, TX. Thankfully we bought a house on high ground, 60 inches of rain that didn't bother us and watered the garden, never lost power, water, etc. Sturdy house on a high spot, thank goodness for that. and i can move the tulips out of there that i've already dug up several times, but always miss a few. i suspect i may still miss a few anyways... and some deep rooted weeds that are best removed carefully by hand so as to not break up chunks of the root which can regrow (sow-thistle, one of the worst garden weeds for clay). Wife loves tulips, alas, they don't grow well here, probably due to heat and underground critters. yesterday i finally filled in the center part i'd dug out and it is already replanted. filled it in with a mix of sand, stuff that needs to rot eventually (bean shells and squash vines/leaves), and stuff that is already mostly rotted (wood chips/pine needles) along with some of the existing clay (about 1/4). You must really like gardening for all the work you do. I'm glad I'm to old for that stuff anymore. G now i won't need a pickaxe to weed it and if i've missed any of the sow-thistle root pieces it won't be so hard to get the rest out of there. mainly though, i get to redo the edge of the patch so i don't need to crawl over or around rocks to get in there to pick or weed. there's way too many ankle breaking/twisting rock edges as it is. i'm gonna flatten this puppy out and give me spaces to go through and figure out something else to do with the rocks... the stepping stones i already have are flat enough. We have stones too, the last couple to own this house left a big pile of river run rocks from somewhere. They're sitting in a big tub in the garage (actually a storage garage as no cars get to go in it) until she can figure out how to use them. Hopefully not thrown at me. i still have wheelbarrows of dirt/subsoil to move and as usual one project begets another. i've been scraping some of the old decayed woodchips from the garden where the lima beans are growing. and there's yet another ankle breaking/twisting rock trench along there that is begging to be dealt with. so... i'm going to remove the rocks and fill it in so it will be brought up to the level of the neighboring path and the whole area will be a garden i can have several rows of beans/peas or whatever instead of a narrow strip surrounded by woodchip mulch (not very productive use of the space before, but it was a flower garden that has been removed and turned into veggie production now). that's a few hundred more square feet of full sun space and the soil is very nice in there already. i'll use some of the decayed wood chips in there too, but most of them are going to end up in the strawberry patch as i will then not need to do anything in there for a few years other than to weed and top off a little at the end of the season (after the ground freezes). at least that is the plan... We have lots of dirt in a bag, called "Black Cow." I think she thinks it is fertilizer, probably from helping me clean out the milking stall when we had a cow. She still smiles a lot when she can get cow crap for her garden. today a little painting too, the garage sill i put in this past spring is holding up and sticking well, a few very tiny cracks are showing from the differences in cement batches i did when i was putting it down (hand mixing in small amounts i couldn't get it all mixed and placed at once). it needs to be protected before the winter gets here and we start dripping muddy/salty water on it... hopefully three coats will do it (or until the quart of paint runs out). We're repainting rooms that have colors that make my artist wife flinch at times. One room at a time and very slowly. The artist really comes out when we're painting rooms. I just brush it on and move on, she takes great detail. in other news, still picking and shelling beans, the rains we so sorely needed were not really wanted now with the beans finishing up, but that is usual for me and the later fall. the push-pull of wanting rains because when it is too dry some of the gardens are too hard to do much with (the rest are much nicer now after years of planting, amending and giving the worms plenty to work with) and the desire for things to be dry so that the beans won't rot or start sprouting in the pods before i can get them picked. it really hasn't been a great year for the beans. strange weather, high heat, storms at just the wrong times, cold spells, etc... the plight of a gardener. :) i have planted enough varieties that i'm getting some return for my efforts but it is a fraction of what a normal year can be like (was hoping for between 50-100 lbs, will be more like 30lbs) most plants the pods are empty or only a few pods have beans. at least the ones i was most worried about not having anything from i have been able to find some pods with beans in them now to restock a little of the seed supply. they are a very nice thin green bean and the seeds are long and narrow and they are apparently very finicky about setting seeds. i could have eaten a lot more of the beans but i left almost all of them because i wanted to restock the seed supply. We mostly grow green beans as we like those a lot and, normally, we can get a fall crop too. tomatoes are done and gone, the plants need to be taken down and buried. peppers are still doing ok. there should be a few red ones out there to harvest in a few days. squash is in and curing. we had a wheelbarrow full (much better than five wheelbarrows full). the quality is overall very good compared to last season. only two that i've noticed will have to be cooked up right away (instead of several dozen). not having much rain the past month and a half kept the fungi from doing much or even starting up at all. ok, enough rambles, time to get busy, ... songbird We still have two pepper plants that are producing fruit but the fruit doesn't get very big. She just can't stand pulling up and composting anything that might have a leaf or a fruit. G I buy my peppers at the market, great, big, red peppers that are crunchy. George |
october already!
On 10/1/2017 8:43 AM, songbird wrote:
in other news, still picking and shelling beans, the rains we so sorely needed were not really wanted now with the beans finishing up, but that is usual for me and the later fall. the push-pull of wanting rains because when it is too dry some of the gardens are too hard to do much with (the rest are much nicer now after years of planting, amending and giving the worms plenty to work with) and the desire for things to be dry so that the beans won't rot or start sprouting in the pods before i can get them picked. it really hasn't been a great year for the beans. strange weather, high heat, storms at just the wrong times, cold spells, etc... the plight of a gardener. :) i have planted enough varieties that i'm getting some return for my efforts but it is a fraction of what a normal year can be like (was hoping for between 50-100 lbs, will be more like 30lbs) most plants the pods are empty or only a few pods have beans. at least the ones i was most worried about not having anything from i have been able to find some pods with beans in them now to restock a little of the seed supply. they are a very nice thin green bean and the seeds are long and narrow and they are apparently very finicky about setting seeds. i could have eaten a lot more of the beans but i left almost all of them because i wanted to restock the seed supply. ok, enough rambles, time to get busy, ... songbird Â* While you're on beans ... I'll be getting a package of seed off to you soon , just a few more days to finish picking this year's field peas .. Nothing did well here but the Red Rippers , which is the only variety I'll plant next year . I'll send whatever else (along with some fresh RR seed) I've got , including some of the bush beans we discussed earlier . If there's anything else you'd like , I'll send some if I got it . Â* -- Â* Snag |
october already!
Terry Coombs wrote:
.... Â* While you're on beans ... I'll be getting a package of seed off to you soon , just a few more days to finish picking this year's field peas . Nothing did well here but the Red Rippers , which is the only variety I'll plant next year . I'll send whatever else (along with some fresh RR seed) I've got , including some of the bush beans we discussed earlier . If there's anything else you'd like , I'll send some if I got it . no field peas thanks, none have ever done well up here (or anything in that family including adzuki beans which i really like :( ). you did finally get an e-mail from me then? i wasn't sure what happened there, and gave up. no worries and no rush. i won't be planting until next April/May. what kinds of other beans do you grow? it's really been an interesting season this time around. *waiting for paint to dry before the last coat of the day* songbird |
october already!
George Shirley wrote:
On 10/1/2017 8:43 AM, songbird wrote: i'm not sure where September went. too quickly by for sure... Everything gets faster when you're aging. September was a good month for us, I turned 78, wife got the fall garden, such as it is, in, the kumquats are still getting bigger, the ten or eleven pears on the tree are getting larger, my back still hurts. G my back doesn't hurt as much as it used to. chiropractor and massage therapy have helped a great deal. i'm no longer having to take any pain meds and can sleep. considering i was contemplating surgery it's been well worth it. garden news, still working on the first strawberry patch. we had hot enough weather that i didn't accomplish much last week. finally we catch a few days of cooler weather with some rains. not that it helped make the subsoil i'm removing any easier to break up. stuff is like concrete. no surprise the strawberries in there didn't do that great, but the subsoil is a foot and a half down, the top layer wasn't too bad. Hot weather, move to this part of Texas,we had several days at 100F or a little more. Not all together but maybe once or twice a week. We're used to it and we have air conditioning that is wonderful. i hate AC, but we have it here too, i would use it a lot less, but Mom has to have it on for the hot and humid days. when i lived in TN i had a small fan which worked well enough for me. and i can move the tulips out of there that i've already dug up several times, but always miss a few. i suspect i may still miss a few anyways... and some deep rooted weeds that are best removed carefully by hand so as to not break up chunks of the root which can regrow (sow-thistle, one of the worst garden weeds for clay). Wife loves tulips, alas, they don't grow well here, probably due to heat and underground critters. i love 'em too, but they don't do well here in most places. with the animals eating them, poor soil, diseases, fogs... only the sturdy ones survive. i used to have about 70 varieties. i'm not sure what is left now - maybe half that. yesterday i finally filled in the center part i'd dug out and it is already replanted. filled it in with a mix of sand, stuff that needs to rot eventually (bean shells and squash vines/leaves), and stuff that is already mostly rotted (wood chips/pine needles) along with some of the existing clay (about 1/4). You must really like gardening for all the work you do. I'm glad I'm to old for that stuff anymore. G it is my preferred form of exercise and no shortage of things to do here. this year is actually sort of strange in that i've finally been able to get to some projects i've wanted to do for several years. so we've caught up and i've been able to get ahead a little for a change. there's always something to do though and often one project starts a whole pile of other ones. now i won't need a pickaxe to weed it and if i've missed any of the sow-thistle root pieces it won't be so hard to get the rest out of there. mainly though, i get to redo the edge of the patch so i don't need to crawl over or around rocks to get in there to pick or weed. there's way too many ankle breaking/twisting rock edges as it is. i'm gonna flatten this puppy out and give me spaces to go through and figure out something else to do with the rocks... the stepping stones i already have are flat enough. We have stones too, the last couple to own this house left a big pile of river run rocks from somewhere. They're sitting in a big tub in the garage (actually a storage garage as no cars get to go in it) until she can figure out how to use them. Hopefully not thrown at me. we have rocks from all over the USoA that have been collected over the years. some of them were used to try to break in one time and another time one was thrown through the front kitchen window. so i always recommend bigger rocks which are much harder to throw. .... We have lots of dirt in a bag, called "Black Cow." I think she thinks it is fertilizer, probably from helping me clean out the milking stall when we had a cow. She still smiles a lot when she can get cow crap for her garden. composted cow crap, trace nutrients in all three of the majors, but still better than the higher powered fake stuff. i used a few bags of it when i was redoing the tulip patches. partially/mostly decayed wood chips are a much nicer form of humus if you can get them for free or nearly free. most of what we've gotten has come via tree service people who are often happy to have a close place to dump them instead of having to go a ways. today a little painting too, the garage sill i put in this past spring is holding up and sticking well, a few very tiny cracks are showing from the differences in cement batches i did when i was putting it down (hand mixing in small amounts i couldn't get it all mixed and placed at once). it needs to be protected before the winter gets here and we start dripping muddy/salty water on it... hopefully three coats will do it (or until the quart of paint runs out). We're repainting rooms that have colors that make my artist wife flinch at times. One room at a time and very slowly. The artist really comes out when we're painting rooms. I just brush it on and move on, she takes great detail. i'm very picky too. nothing complicated with the colors here, the house was meant to be an artists studio/gallery besides being a summer place. so all the walls are eggshell white. the trim is red cedar. i painted the whole thing twice and this room three times. ....beans... We mostly grow green beans as we like those a lot and, normally, we can get a fall crop too. if i have the space set aside for it i can keep planting all season to keep fresh beans going. i usually don't set aside space. .... We still have two pepper plants that are producing fruit but the fruit doesn't get very big. She just can't stand pulling up and composting anything that might have a leaf or a fruit. G I buy my peppers at the market, great, big, red peppers that are crunchy. i know that feeling, i don't want to bury any bean plants until they've completely died back. once in a while one will flower again and try to put on some pods. i've not counted the red peppers but over a hundred for sure this year. i can eat three to five a meal. roasted is by far my favorite way to use them. they go well on about everything. songbird |
october already!
On 10/1/2017 5:32 PM, songbird wrote:
George Shirley wrote: On 10/1/2017 8:43 AM, songbird wrote: i'm not sure where September went. too quickly by for sure... Everything gets faster when you're aging. September was a good month for us, I turned 78, wife got the fall garden, such as it is, in, the kumquats are still getting bigger, the ten or eleven pears on the tree are getting larger, my back still hurts. G my back doesn't hurt as much as it used to. chiropractor and massage therapy have helped a great deal. i'm no longer having to take any pain meds and can sleep. considering i was contemplating surgery it's been well worth it. garden news, still working on the first strawberry patch. we had hot enough weather that i didn't accomplish much last week. finally we catch a few days of cooler weather with some rains. not that it helped make the subsoil i'm removing any easier to break up. stuff is like concrete. no surprise the strawberries in there didn't do that great, but the subsoil is a foot and a half down, the top layer wasn't too bad. Hot weather, move to this part of Texas,we had several days at 100F or a little more. Not all together but maybe once or twice a week. We're used to it and we have air conditioning that is wonderful. i hate AC, but we have it here too, i would use it a lot less, but Mom has to have it on for the hot and humid days. when i lived in TN i had a small fan which worked well enough for me. and i can move the tulips out of there that i've already dug up several times, but always miss a few. i suspect i may still miss a few anyways... and some deep rooted weeds that are best removed carefully by hand so as to not break up chunks of the root which can regrow (sow-thistle, one of the worst garden weeds for clay). Wife loves tulips, alas, they don't grow well here, probably due to heat and underground critters. i love 'em too, but they don't do well here in most places. with the animals eating them, poor soil, diseases, fogs... only the sturdy ones survive. i used to have about 70 varieties. i'm not sure what is left now - maybe half that. yesterday i finally filled in the center part i'd dug out and it is already replanted. filled it in with a mix of sand, stuff that needs to rot eventually (bean shells and squash vines/leaves), and stuff that is already mostly rotted (wood chips/pine needles) along with some of the existing clay (about 1/4). You must really like gardening for all the work you do. I'm glad I'm to old for that stuff anymore. G it is my preferred form of exercise and no shortage of things to do here. this year is actually sort of strange in that i've finally been able to get to some projects i've wanted to do for several years. so we've caught up and i've been able to get ahead a little for a change. there's always something to do though and often one project starts a whole pile of other ones. now i won't need a pickaxe to weed it and if i've missed any of the sow-thistle root pieces it won't be so hard to get the rest out of there. mainly though, i get to redo the edge of the patch so i don't need to crawl over or around rocks to get in there to pick or weed. there's way too many ankle breaking/twisting rock edges as it is. i'm gonna flatten this puppy out and give me spaces to go through and figure out something else to do with the rocks... the stepping stones i already have are flat enough. We have stones too, the last couple to own this house left a big pile of river run rocks from somewhere. They're sitting in a big tub in the garage (actually a storage garage as no cars get to go in it) until she can figure out how to use them. Hopefully not thrown at me. we have rocks from all over the USoA that have been collected over the years. some of them were used to try to break in one time and another time one was thrown through the front kitchen window. so i always recommend bigger rocks which are much harder to throw. ... We have lots of dirt in a bag, called "Black Cow." I think she thinks it is fertilizer, probably from helping me clean out the milking stall when we had a cow. She still smiles a lot when she can get cow crap for her garden. composted cow crap, trace nutrients in all three of the majors, but still better than the higher powered fake stuff. i used a few bags of it when i was redoing the tulip patches. partially/mostly decayed wood chips are a much nicer form of humus if you can get them for free or nearly free. most of what we've gotten has come via tree service people who are often happy to have a close place to dump them instead of having to go a ways. today a little painting too, the garage sill i put in this past spring is holding up and sticking well, a few very tiny cracks are showing from the differences in cement batches i did when i was putting it down (hand mixing in small amounts i couldn't get it all mixed and placed at once). it needs to be protected before the winter gets here and we start dripping muddy/salty water on it... hopefully three coats will do it (or until the quart of paint runs out). We're repainting rooms that have colors that make my artist wife flinch at times. One room at a time and very slowly. The artist really comes out when we're painting rooms. I just brush it on and move on, she takes great detail. i'm very picky too. nothing complicated with the colors here, the house was meant to be an artists studio/gallery besides being a summer place. so all the walls are eggshell white. the trim is red cedar. i painted the whole thing twice and this room three times. ...beans... We mostly grow green beans as we like those a lot and, normally, we can get a fall crop too. if i have the space set aside for it i can keep planting all season to keep fresh beans going. i usually don't set aside space. ... We still have two pepper plants that are producing fruit but the fruit doesn't get very big. She just can't stand pulling up and composting anything that might have a leaf or a fruit. G I buy my peppers at the market, great, big, red peppers that are crunchy. i know that feeling, i don't want to bury any bean plants until they've completely died back. once in a while one will flower again and try to put on some pods. i've not counted the red peppers but over a hundred for sure this year. i can eat three to five a meal. roasted is by far my favorite way to use them. they go well on about everything. songbird The ones I eat are grown in water in a glass house, about the size of a big man's fist or a small baby's head. There is so much variety in the weather here from day to day nothing grows like we had in Louisiana. Of course there we gardened on REAL dirt, detritus from several millennia of plants dying after the sea fled from the land and became the Gulf of Mexico and then modern trees dropping leaves for more years. I miss that soil, throw a seed in the ground and jump back. We had fruit trees, berries along the fence, etc. etc. The folks that bought that property were smiling a lot as they wandered the 14000 square feet property and the big house with the garage in back. Plus a few majestic oak trees fifty feet tall with a trunk that was large, one was twelve feet in diameter, lots of leaves for composting. Here, a little sand on gumbo clay and a 6500 square foot lot with a 1960 square foot house and garage. Luckily the prices here are sky rocketing since Harvey, we have the high ground, another five miles north of us flooded almost as bad as Houston. What makes people build large homes on a creek where you can look up and see the highway going by thirty feet up from the creek. It's a wonder a bunch of wealthy people didn't drown. Drove over the bridge there the other day and most of those creek side houses were torn up badly. I feel sorry for a lot of these people but who the hell wants to build a fancy home on low land in this part of Texas where it gets so much rain. Sheesh! I may be a dumb old country boy but I know where water wants to go, used to work in rice fields, that teaches you how water runs. I still have good insurance but no flood insurance as we are above the flood plain. If the water gets deep enough to flood us I'm building an ark and gathering critters. G George |
october already!
On 10/1/2017 9:43 AM, songbird wrote:
i'm not sure where September went. too quickly by for sure... garden news, still working on the first strawberry patch. we had hot enough weather that i didn't accomplish much last week. finally we catch a few days of cooler weather with some rains. not that it helped make the subsoil i'm removing any easier to break up. stuff is like concrete. no surprise the strawberries in there didn't do that great, but the subsoil is a foot and a half down, the top layer wasn't too bad. i'm going that deep because i've wanted to lower this patch ever since it has been there. no reason to mound it up really other than a few flash floods which don't last long enough and aren't a bother to strawberries anyways. should have the flash flooding under control well enough anyways now. and i can move the tulips out of there that i've already dug up several times, but always miss a few. i suspect i may still miss a few anyways... and some deep rooted weeds that are best removed carefully by hand so as to not break up chunks of the root which can regrow (sow-thistle, one of the worst garden weeds for clay). yesterday i finally filled in the center part i'd dug out and it is already replanted. filled it in with a mix of sand, stuff that needs to rot eventually (bean shells and squash vines/leaves), and stuff that is already mostly rotted (wood chips/pine needles) along with some of the existing clay (about 1/4). now i won't need a pickaxe to weed it and if i've missed any of the sow-thistle root pieces it won't be so hard to get the rest out of there. mainly though, i get to redo the edge of the patch so i don't need to crawl over or around rocks to get in there to pick or weed. there's way too many ankle breaking/twisting rock edges as it is. i'm gonna flatten this puppy out and give me spaces to go through and figure out something else to do with the rocks... the stepping stones i already have are flat enough. i still have wheelbarrows of dirt/subsoil to move and as usual one project begets another. i've been scraping some of the old decayed woodchips from the garden where the lima beans are growing. and there's yet another ankle breaking/twisting rock trench along there that is begging to be dealt with. so... i'm going to remove the rocks and fill it in so it will be brought up to the level of the neighboring path and the whole area will be a garden i can have several rows of beans/peas or whatever instead of a narrow strip surrounded by woodchip mulch (not very productive use of the space before, but it was a flower garden that has been removed and turned into veggie production now). that's a few hundred more square feet of full sun space and the soil is very nice in there already. i'll use some of the decayed wood chips in there too, but most of them are going to end up in the strawberry patch as i will then not need to do anything in there for a few years other than to weed and top off a little at the end of the season (after the ground freezes). at least that is the plan... today a little painting too, the garage sill i put in this past spring is holding up and sticking well, a few very tiny cracks are showing from the differences in cement batches i did when i was putting it down (hand mixing in small amounts i couldn't get it all mixed and placed at once). it needs to be protected before the winter gets here and we start dripping muddy/salty water on it... hopefully three coats will do it (or until the quart of paint runs out). in other news, still picking and shelling beans, the rains we so sorely needed were not really wanted now with the beans finishing up, but that is usual for me and the later fall. the push-pull of wanting rains because when it is too dry some of the gardens are too hard to do much with (the rest are much nicer now after years of planting, amending and giving the worms plenty to work with) and the desire for things to be dry so that the beans won't rot or start sprouting in the pods before i can get them picked. it really hasn't been a great year for the beans. strange weather, high heat, storms at just the wrong times, cold spells, etc... the plight of a gardener. :) i have planted enough varieties that i'm getting some return for my efforts but it is a fraction of what a normal year can be like (was hoping for between 50-100 lbs, will be more like 30lbs) most plants the pods are empty or only a few pods have beans. at least the ones i was most worried about not having anything from i have been able to find some pods with beans in them now to restock a little of the seed supply. they are a very nice thin green bean and the seeds are long and narrow and they are apparently very finicky about setting seeds. i could have eaten a lot more of the beans but i left almost all of them because i wanted to restock the seed supply. tomatoes are done and gone, the plants need to be taken down and buried. peppers are still doing ok. there should be a few red ones out there to harvest in a few days. squash is in and curing. we had a wheelbarrow full (much better than five wheelbarrows full). the quality is overall very good compared to last season. only two that i've noticed will have to be cooked up right away (instead of several dozen). not having much rain the past month and a half kept the fungi from doing much or even starting up at all. ok, enough rambles, time to get busy, ... songbird I'm into chestnut season. I don't save as many but like to shell and freeze to use with stuffing turkey. I'll chomp on them in the evening with a glass of wine but they last less than 2 months in the refrigerator as they do not keep like fatty nuts such as peanuts. I hate to leave them for the deer and the squirrels and saturate my friends with them. Invited neighbors over today to pick up as much as they wanted. Frank |
october already!
On Sunday, October 1, 2017 at 7:34:41 PM UTC-4, Frank wrote:
On 10/1/2017 9:43 AM, songbird wrote: i'm not sure where September went. too quickly by for sure... garden news, still working on the first strawberry patch. we had hot enough weather that i didn't accomplish much last week. finally we catch a few days of cooler weather with some rains. not that it helped make the subsoil i'm removing any easier to break up. stuff is like concrete. no surprise the strawberries in there didn't do that great, but the subsoil is a foot and a half down, the top layer wasn't too bad. i'm going that deep because i've wanted to lower this patch ever since it has been there. no reason to mound it up really other than a few flash floods which don't last long enough and aren't a bother to strawberries anyways. should have the flash flooding under control well enough anyways now. and i can move the tulips out of there that i've already dug up several times, but always miss a few. i suspect i may still miss a few anyways... and some deep rooted weeds that are best removed carefully by hand so as to not break up chunks of the root which can regrow (sow-thistle, one of the worst garden weeds for clay). yesterday i finally filled in the center part i'd dug out and it is already replanted. filled it in with a mix of sand, stuff that needs to rot eventually (bean shells and squash vines/leaves), and stuff that is already mostly rotted (wood chips/pine needles) along with some of the existing clay (about 1/4). now i won't need a pickaxe to weed it and if i've missed any of the sow-thistle root pieces it won't be so hard to get the rest out of there. mainly though, i get to redo the edge of the patch so i don't need to crawl over or around rocks to get in there to pick or weed. there's way too many ankle breaking/twisting rock edges as it is. i'm gonna flatten this puppy out and give me spaces to go through and figure out something else to do with the rocks... the stepping stones i already have are flat enough. i still have wheelbarrows of dirt/subsoil to move and as usual one project begets another. i've been scraping some of the old decayed woodchips from the garden where the lima beans are growing. and there's yet another ankle breaking/twisting rock trench along there that is begging to be dealt with. so... i'm going to remove the rocks and fill it in so it will be brought up to the level of the neighboring path and the whole area will be a garden i can have several rows of beans/peas or whatever instead of a narrow strip surrounded by woodchip mulch (not very productive use of the space before, but it was a flower garden that has been removed and turned into veggie production now). that's a few hundred more square feet of full sun space and the soil is very nice in there already. i'll use some of the decayed wood chips in there too, but most of them are going to end up in the strawberry patch as i will then not need to do anything in there for a few years other than to weed and top off a little at the end of the season (after the ground freezes). at least that is the plan... today a little painting too, the garage sill i put in this past spring is holding up and sticking well, a few very tiny cracks are showing from the differences in cement batches i did when i was putting it down (hand mixing in small amounts i couldn't get it all mixed and placed at once). it needs to be protected before the winter gets here and we start dripping muddy/salty water on it... hopefully three coats will do it (or until the quart of paint runs out). in other news, still picking and shelling beans, the rains we so sorely needed were not really wanted now with the beans finishing up, but that is usual for me and the later fall. the push-pull of wanting rains because when it is too dry some of the gardens are too hard to do much with (the rest are much nicer now after years of planting, amending and giving the worms plenty to work with) and the desire for things to be dry so that the beans won't rot or start sprouting in the pods before i can get them picked. it really hasn't been a great year for the beans. strange weather, high heat, storms at just the wrong times, cold spells, etc... the plight of a gardener. :) i have planted enough varieties that i'm getting some return for my efforts but it is a fraction of what a normal year can be like (was hoping for between 50-100 lbs, will be more like 30lbs) most plants the pods are empty or only a few pods have beans. at least the ones i was most worried about not having anything from i have been able to find some pods with beans in them now to restock a little of the seed supply. they are a very nice thin green bean and the seeds are long and narrow and they are apparently very finicky about setting seeds. i could have eaten a lot more of the beans but i left almost all of them because i wanted to restock the seed supply. tomatoes are done and gone, the plants need to be taken down and buried. peppers are still doing ok. there should be a few red ones out there to harvest in a few days. squash is in and curing. we had a wheelbarrow full (much better than five wheelbarrows full). the quality is overall very good compared to last season. only two that i've noticed will have to be cooked up right away (instead of several dozen). not having much rain the past month and a half kept the fungi from doing much or even starting up at all. ok, enough rambles, time to get busy, ... songbird I'm into chestnut season. I don't save as many but like to shell and freeze to use with stuffing turkey. I'll chomp on them in the evening with a glass of wine but they last less than 2 months in the refrigerator as they do not keep like fatty nuts such as peanuts. I hate to leave them for the deer and the squirrels and saturate my friends with them. Invited neighbors over today to pick up as much as they wanted. Frank A friend of ours has several large black walnut trees in her yard. She can't use them all so she invited us up to gather as many as we wanted. We went up there last week and came home with three five-gallon pails full. My wife is processing them; she says it reminds her of her childhood in the mountains of eastern Tennessee. Paul |
october already!
On 10/1/2017 7:59 PM, Pavel314 wrote:
On Sunday, October 1, 2017 at 7:34:41 PM UTC-4, Frank wrote: On 10/1/2017 9:43 AM, songbird wrote: i'm not sure where September went. too quickly by for sure... garden news, still working on the first strawberry patch. we had hot enough weather that i didn't accomplish much last week. finally we catch a few days of cooler weather with some rains. not that it helped make the subsoil i'm removing any easier to break up. stuff is like concrete. no surprise the strawberries in there didn't do that great, but the subsoil is a foot and a half down, the top layer wasn't too bad. i'm going that deep because i've wanted to lower this patch ever since it has been there. no reason to mound it up really other than a few flash floods which don't last long enough and aren't a bother to strawberries anyways. should have the flash flooding under control well enough anyways now. and i can move the tulips out of there that i've already dug up several times, but always miss a few. i suspect i may still miss a few anyways... and some deep rooted weeds that are best removed carefully by hand so as to not break up chunks of the root which can regrow (sow-thistle, one of the worst garden weeds for clay). yesterday i finally filled in the center part i'd dug out and it is already replanted. filled it in with a mix of sand, stuff that needs to rot eventually (bean shells and squash vines/leaves), and stuff that is already mostly rotted (wood chips/pine needles) along with some of the existing clay (about 1/4). now i won't need a pickaxe to weed it and if i've missed any of the sow-thistle root pieces it won't be so hard to get the rest out of there. mainly though, i get to redo the edge of the patch so i don't need to crawl over or around rocks to get in there to pick or weed. there's way too many ankle breaking/twisting rock edges as it is. i'm gonna flatten this puppy out and give me spaces to go through and figure out something else to do with the rocks... the stepping stones i already have are flat enough. i still have wheelbarrows of dirt/subsoil to move and as usual one project begets another. i've been scraping some of the old decayed woodchips from the garden where the lima beans are growing. and there's yet another ankle breaking/twisting rock trench along there that is begging to be dealt with. so... i'm going to remove the rocks and fill it in so it will be brought up to the level of the neighboring path and the whole area will be a garden i can have several rows of beans/peas or whatever instead of a narrow strip surrounded by woodchip mulch (not very productive use of the space before, but it was a flower garden that has been removed and turned into veggie production now). that's a few hundred more square feet of full sun space and the soil is very nice in there already. i'll use some of the decayed wood chips in there too, but most of them are going to end up in the strawberry patch as i will then not need to do anything in there for a few years other than to weed and top off a little at the end of the season (after the ground freezes). at least that is the plan... today a little painting too, the garage sill i put in this past spring is holding up and sticking well, a few very tiny cracks are showing from the differences in cement batches i did when i was putting it down (hand mixing in small amounts i couldn't get it all mixed and placed at once). it needs to be protected before the winter gets here and we start dripping muddy/salty water on it... hopefully three coats will do it (or until the quart of paint runs out). in other news, still picking and shelling beans, the rains we so sorely needed were not really wanted now with the beans finishing up, but that is usual for me and the later fall. the push-pull of wanting rains because when it is too dry some of the gardens are too hard to do much with (the rest are much nicer now after years of planting, amending and giving the worms plenty to work with) and the desire for things to be dry so that the beans won't rot or start sprouting in the pods before i can get them picked. it really hasn't been a great year for the beans. strange weather, high heat, storms at just the wrong times, cold spells, etc... the plight of a gardener. :) i have planted enough varieties that i'm getting some return for my efforts but it is a fraction of what a normal year can be like (was hoping for between 50-100 lbs, will be more like 30lbs) most plants the pods are empty or only a few pods have beans. at least the ones i was most worried about not having anything from i have been able to find some pods with beans in them now to restock a little of the seed supply. they are a very nice thin green bean and the seeds are long and narrow and they are apparently very finicky about setting seeds. i could have eaten a lot more of the beans but i left almost all of them because i wanted to restock the seed supply. tomatoes are done and gone, the plants need to be taken down and buried. peppers are still doing ok. there should be a few red ones out there to harvest in a few days. squash is in and curing. we had a wheelbarrow full (much better than five wheelbarrows full). the quality is overall very good compared to last season. only two that i've noticed will have to be cooked up right away (instead of several dozen). not having much rain the past month and a half kept the fungi from doing much or even starting up at all. ok, enough rambles, time to get busy, ... songbird I'm into chestnut season. I don't save as many but like to shell and freeze to use with stuffing turkey. I'll chomp on them in the evening with a glass of wine but they last less than 2 months in the refrigerator as they do not keep like fatty nuts such as peanuts. I hate to leave them for the deer and the squirrels and saturate my friends with them. Invited neighbors over today to pick up as much as they wanted. Frank A friend of ours has several large black walnut trees in her yard. She can't use them all so she invited us up to gather as many as we wanted. We went up there last week and came home with three five-gallon pails full. My wife is processing them; she says it reminds her of her childhood in the mountains of eastern Tennessee. Paul I liked them and my father always got them. Awful lot of work to to husk, dry and have to hammer to get nut meat but mother made terrific cookies with them. I watched a squirrel eat one once and he must have been gnawing at it for a half hour. |
october already!
Frank wrote:
.... I'm into chestnut season. I don't save as many but like to shell and freeze to use with stuffing turkey. I'll chomp on them in the evening with a glass of wine but they last less than 2 months in the refrigerator as they do not keep like fatty nuts such as peanuts. i didn't think there were any of those trees still around any longer? I hate to leave them for the deer and the squirrels and saturate my friends with them. Invited neighbors over today to pick up as much as they wanted. in the days before the fungi they were a major source of fodder for animals in the forest and many people would let pigs run to fatten up and then... songbird |
october already!
Pavel314 wrote:
.... A friend of ours has several large black walnut trees in her yard. She can't use them all so she invited us up to gather as many as we wanted. We went up there last week and came home with three five-gallon pails full. My wife is processing them; she says it reminds her of her childhood in the mountains of eastern Tennessee. there's a lot of black walnut trees around here, the squirrels drop them in the road and let people run over them. last time i picked a bunch of black walnuts and shelled them out i made some black walnut cookies. it was a lot of work but worth it. i tried making walnut cookies with regular walnuts, but they just weren't the same... i will likely buy some black walnuts next time i make those kind of cookies. my hands are too useful to risk more damage like that. songbird |
october already!
On 10/1/2017 10:34 PM, songbird wrote:
Pavel314 wrote: ... A friend of ours has several large black walnut trees in her yard. She can't use them all so she invited us up to gather as many as we wanted. We went up there last week and came home with three five-gallon pails full. My wife is processing them; she says it reminds her of her childhood in the mountains of eastern Tennessee. there's a lot of black walnut trees around here, the squirrels drop them in the road and let people run over them. last time i picked a bunch of black walnuts and shelled them out i made some black walnut cookies. it was a lot of work but worth it. i tried making walnut cookies with regular walnuts, but they just weren't the same... i will likely buy some black walnuts next time i make those kind of cookies. my hands are too useful to risk more damage like that. songbird I made the mistake of planting a couple of English walnuts. Never got any nuts as squirrels would get to them before they even matured. Early this year one got blown over and I had it removed but it displaced the other and it is not tolerating it well so I have to have it removed. Been over 40 years ago that we moved into this house when it was new and I am still correcting my planting mistakes with trees and bushes. |
october already!
On 10/1/2017 10:30 PM, songbird wrote:
Frank wrote: ... I'm into chestnut season. I don't save as many but like to shell and freeze to use with stuffing turkey. I'll chomp on them in the evening with a glass of wine but they last less than 2 months in the refrigerator as they do not keep like fatty nuts such as peanuts. i didn't think there were any of those trees still around any longer? I hate to leave them for the deer and the squirrels and saturate my friends with them. Invited neighbors over today to pick up as much as they wanted. in the days before the fungi they were a major source of fodder for animals in the forest and many people would let pigs run to fatten up and then... songbird Mine are Chinese chestnuts. The American chestnut is supposedly returning and a few years ago I tried a few of these chestnuts and they tasted the same. I don't think the wood of the Chinese tree is as good as the American tree. |
october already!
On 10/2/2017 6:30 AM, Frank wrote:
On 10/1/2017 10:34 PM, songbird wrote: Pavel314 wrote: ... A friend of ours has several large black walnut trees in her yard. She can't use them all so she invited us up to gather as many as we wanted. We went up there last week and came home with three five-gallon pails full. My wife is processing them; she says it reminds her of her childhood in the mountains of eastern Tennessee. Â*Â* there's a lot of black walnut trees around here, the squirrels drop them in the road and let people run over them. Â*Â* last time i picked a bunch of black walnuts and shelled them out i made some black walnut cookies.Â* it was a lot of work but worth it. i tried making walnut cookies with regular walnuts, but they just weren't the same... Â*Â* i will likely buy some black walnuts next time i make those kind of cookies.Â* my hands are too useful to risk more damage like that. Â*Â* songbird I made the mistake of planting a couple of English walnuts.Â* Never got any nuts as squirrels would get to them before they even matured.Â* Early this year one got blown over and I had it removed but it displaced the other and it is not tolerating it well so I have to have it removed. Been over 40 years ago that we moved into this house when it was new and I am still correcting my planting mistakes with trees and bushes. Been there, done that. Every house we've lived in has been spruced up, the gardens done to our wants, then we move on to my next job as I climbed the management of safety in chemical plants and refineries around the world. I'm pretty sure we're going to stay in this house until we're either dead or gone to a nursing home. Small property but wife has most of the ground covered with flowers, etc. and our small vegetable garden. At our age that's about what we can handle. I keep the books, wife keeps the small lawn mowed, and takes care of the gardens. I also do most of the cooking and cleaning. Can't walk well on uneven ground but can get around with my cane in the house. Works well for us and has been working well for a goodly amount of time. George, up early to feed the dawg, as usual. |
october already!
On 10/2/2017 6:33 AM, Frank wrote:
On 10/1/2017 10:30 PM, songbird wrote: Frank wrote: ... I'm into chestnut season.Â* I don't save as many but like to shell and freeze to use with stuffing turkey. I'll chomp on them in the evening with a glass of wine but they last less than 2 months in the refrigerator as they do not keep like fatty nuts such as peanuts. Â*Â* i didn't think there were any of those trees still around any longer? I hate to leave them for the deer and the squirrels and saturate my friends with them.Â* Invited neighbors over today to pick up as much as they wanted. Â*Â* in the days before the fungi they were a major source of fodder for animals in the forest and many people would let pigs run to fatten up and then... Â*Â* songbird Mine are Chinese chestnuts.Â* The American chestnut is supposedly returning and a few years ago I tried a few of these chestnuts and they tasted the same.Â* I don't think the wood of the Chinese tree is as good as the American tree. I have never seen an American chestnut, don't think they grew in my part of Texas. Have eaten Chinese chestnuts, do they have the same taste? George |
october already!
On 10/2/2017 7:58 AM, George Shirley wrote:
On 10/2/2017 6:30 AM, Frank wrote: On 10/1/2017 10:34 PM, songbird wrote: Pavel314 wrote: ... A friend of ours has several large black walnut trees in her yard. She can't use them all so she invited us up to gather as many as we wanted. We went up there last week and came home with three five-gallon pails full. My wife is processing them; she says it reminds her of her childhood in the mountains of eastern Tennessee. Â*Â* there's a lot of black walnut trees around here, the squirrels drop them in the road and let people run over them. Â*Â* last time i picked a bunch of black walnuts and shelled them out i made some black walnut cookies.Â* it was a lot of work but worth it. i tried making walnut cookies with regular walnuts, but they just weren't the same... Â*Â* i will likely buy some black walnuts next time i make those kind of cookies.Â* my hands are too useful to risk more damage like that. Â*Â* songbird I made the mistake of planting a couple of English walnuts.Â* Never got any nuts as squirrels would get to them before they even matured. Early this year one got blown over and I had it removed but it displaced the other and it is not tolerating it well so I have to have it removed. Been over 40 years ago that we moved into this house when it was new and I am still correcting my planting mistakes with trees and bushes. Been there, done that. Every house we've lived in has been spruced up, the gardens done to our wants, then we move on to my next job as I climbed the management of safety in chemical plants and refineries around the world. I'm pretty sure we're going to stay in this house until we're either dead or gone to a nursing home. Small property but wife has most of the ground covered with flowers, etc. and our small vegetable garden. At our age that's about what we can handle. I keep the books, wife keeps the small lawn mowed, and takes care of the gardens. I also do most of the cooking and cleaning. Can't walk well on uneven ground but can get around with my cane in the house. Works well for us and has been working well for a goodly amount of time. George, up early to feed the dawg, as usual. I have nearly an acre on a sloped lot. Very hilly neighborhood and most of the neighbors on my street let back yards grow wild but wife likes ours mowed which is getting increasingly harder to get mower down hill. Too steep for a riding mower. I lucked out this year with a next door neighbor cutting the back which he can access from his lot with his rider. He does it for the cost of the fuel which in this instance is an occasional case of Heineken. Unfortunately he is moving due to new job for his wife so next year I may have to hire someone. Will have three new neighbors on both sides and back next year. Most important is one in the back to access back yard from his driveway running entire length of my lot. Tree cutter has used it a couple of times and will need it again when leaves are down in a couple of months. Our son loves this house and would have bought it except for the 2-3 acres it is on are so sloppy and 700 ft drive is too much. I had another neighbor down the road with 22 acres with a 0.4 mile drive. He died at age 90 but was still an adjunct professor at U. of Delaware who walked to work nearly 10 miles away, believe it or not. |
october already!
On 10/2/2017 8:00 AM, George Shirley wrote:
On 10/2/2017 6:33 AM, Frank wrote: On 10/1/2017 10:30 PM, songbird wrote: Frank wrote: ... I'm into chestnut season.Â* I don't save as many but like to shell and freeze to use with stuffing turkey. I'll chomp on them in the evening with a glass of wine but they last less than 2 months in the refrigerator as they do not keep like fatty nuts such as peanuts. Â*Â* i didn't think there were any of those trees still around any longer? I hate to leave them for the deer and the squirrels and saturate my friends with them.Â* Invited neighbors over today to pick up as much as they wanted. Â*Â* in the days before the fungi they were a major source of fodder for animals in the forest and many people would let pigs run to fatten up and then... Â*Â* songbird Mine are Chinese chestnuts.Â* The American chestnut is supposedly returning and a few years ago I tried a few of these chestnuts and they tasted the same.Â* I don't think the wood of the Chinese tree is as good as the American tree. I have never seen an American chestnut, don't think they grew in my part of Texas. Have eaten Chinese chestnuts, do they have the same taste? George It's been years since I tasted them. I think taste was same as Chinese chestnuts and they were slightly smaller. This was at friends hunting camp in central PA. Guy that brought them in said they were American chestnuts. I tried to sell some to local market years ago but they refused as there is a worm problem. There is a chestnut weevil that I have never seen but it lays eggs on the hull and they burrow into the chestnut. I spray with Sevin but can't reach the tops of both trees and often see a lot of worms. These little buggers can even bore through a plastic bag. I'm sure I've eaten more than a few. This year's crop appears clean. You spray for 3-4 weeks weekly about 6 weeks before harvest. |
october already!
On 10/2/2017 8:36 AM, Frank wrote:
On 10/2/2017 7:58 AM, George Shirley wrote: On 10/2/2017 6:30 AM, Frank wrote: On 10/1/2017 10:34 PM, songbird wrote: Pavel314 wrote: ... A friend of ours has several large black walnut trees in her yard. She can't use them all so she invited us up to gather as many as we wanted. We went up there last week and came home with three five-gallon pails full. My wife is processing them; she says it reminds her of her childhood in the mountains of eastern Tennessee. Â*Â* there's a lot of black walnut trees around here, the squirrels drop them in the road and let people run over them. Â*Â* last time i picked a bunch of black walnuts and shelled them out i made some black walnut cookies.Â* it was a lot of work but worth it. i tried making walnut cookies with regular walnuts, but they just weren't the same... Â*Â* i will likely buy some black walnuts next time i make those kind of cookies.Â* my hands are too useful to risk more damage like that. Â*Â* songbird I made the mistake of planting a couple of English walnuts.Â* Never got any nuts as squirrels would get to them before they even matured. Early this year one got blown over and I had it removed but it displaced the other and it is not tolerating it well so I have to have it removed. Been over 40 years ago that we moved into this house when it was new and I am still correcting my planting mistakes with trees and bushes. Been there, done that. Every house we've lived in has been spruced up, the gardens done to our wants, then we move on to my next job as I climbed the management of safety in chemical plants and refineries around the world. I'm pretty sure we're going to stay in this house until we're either dead or gone to a nursing home. Small property but wife has most of the ground covered with flowers, etc. and our small vegetable garden. At our age that's about what we can handle. I keep the books, wife keeps the small lawn mowed, and takes care of the gardens. I also do most of the cooking and cleaning. Can't walk well on uneven ground but can get around with my cane in the house. Works well for us and has been working well for a goodly amount of time. George, up early to feed the dawg, as usual. I have nearly an acre on a sloped lot.Â* Very hilly neighborhood and most of the neighbors on my street let back yards grow wild but wife likes ours mowed which is getting increasingly harder to get mower down hill. Too steep for a riding mower.Â* I lucked out this year with a next door neighbor cutting the back which he can access from his lot with his rider.Â* He does it for the cost of the fuel which in this instance is an occasional case of Heineken.Â* Unfortunately he is moving due to new job for his wife so next year I may have to hire someone. Will have three new neighbors on both sides and back next year.Â* Most important is one in the back to access back yard from his driveway running entire length of my lot.Â* Tree cutter has used it a couple of times and will need it again when leaves are down in a couple of months. Our son loves this house and would have bought it except for the 2-3 acres it is on are so sloppy and 700 ft drive is too much.Â* I had another neighbor down the road with 22 acres with a 0.4 mile drive.Â* He died at age 90 but was still an adjunct professor at U. of Delaware who walked to work nearly 10 miles away, believe it or not. I can believe that, my Uncle Gus lived to be 91 and was blind and deaf then. He was my father's next down brother and a good man, was a member of three different unions and worked until he was in his late sixties and didn't want to retire then but was forced out. He didn't want to NOT work, not many people can say that. I retired at 65 as a lone wolf safety professional, was very sick, docs said I would be dead soon. Gave my business to a very good friend who couldn't afford to buy it but we got gifts every month for two years, not asked for but given for thanks. He grew the company to ten times the income I had pulled in but I didn't want to work to much. G Now his two sons are running the business and doing well. Makes me feel good that I started something that keeps paying off to the people I like. Nowadays I nap a lot, read lots of books, watch tv, brush and bathe the dog, cook meals for us, do the grocery shopping, then more naps. My body is not doing much for me, to many years of climbing towers, hauling loads, arthritis, diabetes, heart disease, etc. (all of which run in the men of my family) but I can still teach the grands and great grands, and, I hope, the great great grands if I can still keep going. |
october already!
On 10/2/2017 11:21 AM, Frank wrote:
On 10/2/2017 8:00 AM, George Shirley wrote: On 10/2/2017 6:33 AM, Frank wrote: On 10/1/2017 10:30 PM, songbird wrote: Frank wrote: ... I'm into chestnut season.Â* I don't save as many but like to shell and freeze to use with stuffing turkey. I'll chomp on them in the evening with a glass of wine but they last less than 2 months in the refrigerator as they do not keep like fatty nuts such as peanuts. Â*Â* i didn't think there were any of those trees still around any longer? I hate to leave them for the deer and the squirrels and saturate my friends with them.Â* Invited neighbors over today to pick up as much as they wanted. Â*Â* in the days before the fungi they were a major source of fodder for animals in the forest and many people would let pigs run to fatten up and then... Â*Â* songbird Mine are Chinese chestnuts.Â* The American chestnut is supposedly returning and a few years ago I tried a few of these chestnuts and they tasted the same.Â* I don't think the wood of the Chinese tree is as good as the American tree. I have never seen an American chestnut, don't think they grew in my part of Texas. Have eaten Chinese chestnuts, do they have the same taste? George It's been years since I tasted them.Â* I think taste was same as Chinese chestnuts and they were slightly smaller.Â* This was at friends hunting camp in central PA.Â* Guy that brought them in said they were American chestnuts. I tried to sell some to local market years ago but they refused as there is a worm problem.Â* There is a chestnut weevil that I have never seen but it lays eggs on the hull and they burrow into the chestnut.Â* I spray with Sevin but can't reach the tops of both trees and often see a lot of worms.Â* These little buggers can even bore through a plastic bag.Â* I'm sure I've eaten more than a few.Â* This year's crop appears clean.Â* You spray for 3-4 weeks weekly about 6 weeks before harvest. We tried growing everything without sprays, etc. and damned near died from what all was eating our gardens. Now we just spray and then wash stuff from the garden. It's hell trying to grown things "naturally" when the world is full of things that want to screw up your garden. Particularly when you're close enough to the harbor for Houston and all the junk the ships bring in. Some have destroyed crops that have been grown for a very long time. Then the gubmint says "You can't spray that, it might hurt the atmosphere or something else." Heck, I used to flag crop dusters as a kid with just a bandana tied over my face. I think all that "poison" is why I'm still around, sort of like being petrified or so0mething. VBG |
october already!
On 10/2/2017 4:55 PM, George Shirley wrote:
On 10/2/2017 11:21 AM, Frank wrote: On 10/2/2017 8:00 AM, George Shirley wrote: On 10/2/2017 6:33 AM, Frank wrote: On 10/1/2017 10:30 PM, songbird wrote: Frank wrote: ... I'm into chestnut season.Â* I don't save as many but like to shell and freeze to use with stuffing turkey. I'll chomp on them in the evening with a glass of wine but they last less than 2 months in the refrigerator as they do not keep like fatty nuts such as peanuts. Â*Â* i didn't think there were any of those trees still around any longer? I hate to leave them for the deer and the squirrels and saturate my friends with them.Â* Invited neighbors over today to pick up as much as they wanted. Â*Â* in the days before the fungi they were a major source of fodder for animals in the forest and many people would let pigs run to fatten up and then... Â*Â* songbird Mine are Chinese chestnuts.Â* The American chestnut is supposedly returning and a few years ago I tried a few of these chestnuts and they tasted the same.Â* I don't think the wood of the Chinese tree is as good as the American tree. I have never seen an American chestnut, don't think they grew in my part of Texas. Have eaten Chinese chestnuts, do they have the same taste? George It's been years since I tasted them.Â* I think taste was same as Chinese chestnuts and they were slightly smaller.Â* This was at friends hunting camp in central PA.Â* Guy that brought them in said they were American chestnuts. I tried to sell some to local market years ago but they refused as there is a worm problem.Â* There is a chestnut weevil that I have never seen but it lays eggs on the hull and they burrow into the chestnut. I spray with Sevin but can't reach the tops of both trees and often see a lot of worms.Â* These little buggers can even bore through a plastic bag.Â* I'm sure I've eaten more than a few.Â* This year's crop appears clean.Â* You spray for 3-4 weeks weekly about 6 weeks before harvest. We tried growing everything without sprays, etc. and damned near died from what all was eating our gardens. Now we just spray and then wash stuff from the garden. It's hell trying to grown things "naturally" when the world is full of things that want to screw up your garden. Particularly when you're close enough to the harbor for Houston and all the junk the ships bring in. Some have destroyed crops that have been grown for a very long time. Then the gubmint says "You can't spray that, it might hurt the atmosphere or something else." Heck, I used to flag crop dusters as a kid with just a bandana tied over my face. I think all that "poison" is why I'm still around, sort of like being petrified or so0mething. VBG When your trees are fairly isolated from similar trees all the enemies surround them nearby. I had trouble with apple worms and fungus when I had apple trees. I used to bicycle past an orchard on Sunday mornings and saw them spraying. Bet there was not a bug or fungus within a mile after they were done. I also suspect they did not have to spray that often as it would take awhile before they were invaded by surrounding bugs. Probably same for squirrels when I tried to raise English walnuts. If an orchard knocked their population down it would take a much longer time to recover than my trees surrounded by woods full of squirrels. I may be a chemist but do not believe in the liberal use of chemicals but in their judicious use. |
october already!
On 10/2/2017 5:54 PM, Frank wrote:
On 10/2/2017 4:55 PM, George Shirley wrote: On 10/2/2017 11:21 AM, Frank wrote: On 10/2/2017 8:00 AM, George Shirley wrote: On 10/2/2017 6:33 AM, Frank wrote: On 10/1/2017 10:30 PM, songbird wrote: Frank wrote: ... I'm into chestnut season.Â* I don't save as many but like to shell and freeze to use with stuffing turkey. I'll chomp on them in the evening with a glass of wine but they last less than 2 months in the refrigerator as they do not keep like fatty nuts such as peanuts. Â*Â* i didn't think there were any of those trees still around any longer? I hate to leave them for the deer and the squirrels and saturate my friends with them.Â* Invited neighbors over today to pick up as much as they wanted. Â*Â* in the days before the fungi they were a major source of fodder for animals in the forest and many people would let pigs run to fatten up and then... Â*Â* songbird Mine are Chinese chestnuts.Â* The American chestnut is supposedly returning and a few years ago I tried a few of these chestnuts and they tasted the same.Â* I don't think the wood of the Chinese tree is as good as the American tree. I have never seen an American chestnut, don't think they grew in my part of Texas. Have eaten Chinese chestnuts, do they have the same taste? George It's been years since I tasted them.Â* I think taste was same as Chinese chestnuts and they were slightly smaller.Â* This was at friends hunting camp in central PA.Â* Guy that brought them in said they were American chestnuts. I tried to sell some to local market years ago but they refused as there is a worm problem.Â* There is a chestnut weevil that I have never seen but it lays eggs on the hull and they burrow into the chestnut. I spray with Sevin but can't reach the tops of both trees and often see a lot of worms.Â* These little buggers can even bore through a plastic bag.Â* I'm sure I've eaten more than a few.Â* This year's crop appears clean.Â* You spray for 3-4 weeks weekly about 6 weeks before harvest. We tried growing everything without sprays, etc. and damned near died from what all was eating our gardens. Now we just spray and then wash stuff from the garden. It's hell trying to grown things "naturally" when the world is full of things that want to screw up your garden. Particularly when you're close enough to the harbor for Houston and all the junk the ships bring in. Some have destroyed crops that have been grown for a very long time. Then the gubmint says "You can't spray that, it might hurt the atmosphere or something else." Heck, I used to flag crop dusters as a kid with just a bandana tied over my face. I think all that "poison" is why I'm still around, sort of like being petrified or so0mething. VBG When your trees are fairly isolated from similar trees all the enemies surround them nearby.Â* I had trouble with apple worms and fungus when I had apple trees.Â* I used to bicycle past an orchard on Sunday mornings and saw them spraying.Â* Bet there was not a bug or fungus within a mile after they were done.Â* I also suspect they did not have to spray that often as it would take awhile before they were invaded by surrounding bugs. Probably same for squirrels when I tried to raise English walnuts.Â* If an orchard knocked their population down it would take a much longer time to recover than my trees surrounded by woods full of squirrels. I may be a chemist but do not believe in the liberal use of chemicals but in their judicious use. I made my living for sixteen years making chemicals, but not the type you're thinking of, just little stuff like benzene, etc. G After the 16 years as a grunt I moved into management with several different chemical plants and refineries. We were careful in handling the stuff and what we sold off to other companies had the proper paper work for handling them. Unfortunately lots of small companies made really bad chemicals for bugs, etc. that were two steppers, get a good bit of the chemical, walk two steps and fall over dead. Like you I am cautious about any over the counter or home made chemicals and read the cautions part four or five times. Breathing some of that stuff fifty years ago or so didn't help my health. Anyone that handles any kind of chemical, even the ones under the kitchen sink, needs to be fully aware of what happens if you breath it, drink it, or get it on you. Amen! |
october already!
On 10/2/2017 8:03 PM, George Shirley wrote:
On 10/2/2017 5:54 PM, Frank wrote: On 10/2/2017 4:55 PM, George Shirley wrote: On 10/2/2017 11:21 AM, Frank wrote: On 10/2/2017 8:00 AM, George Shirley wrote: On 10/2/2017 6:33 AM, Frank wrote: On 10/1/2017 10:30 PM, songbird wrote: Frank wrote: ... I'm into chestnut season.Â* I don't save as many but like to shell and freeze to use with stuffing turkey. I'll chomp on them in the evening with a glass of wine but they last less than 2 months in the refrigerator as they do not keep like fatty nuts such as peanuts. Â*Â* i didn't think there were any of those trees still around any longer? I hate to leave them for the deer and the squirrels and saturate my friends with them.Â* Invited neighbors over today to pick up as much as they wanted. Â*Â* in the days before the fungi they were a major source of fodder for animals in the forest and many people would let pigs run to fatten up and then... Â*Â* songbird Mine are Chinese chestnuts.Â* The American chestnut is supposedly returning and a few years ago I tried a few of these chestnuts and they tasted the same.Â* I don't think the wood of the Chinese tree is as good as the American tree. I have never seen an American chestnut, don't think they grew in my part of Texas. Have eaten Chinese chestnuts, do they have the same taste? George It's been years since I tasted them.Â* I think taste was same as Chinese chestnuts and they were slightly smaller.Â* This was at friends hunting camp in central PA.Â* Guy that brought them in said they were American chestnuts. I tried to sell some to local market years ago but they refused as there is a worm problem.Â* There is a chestnut weevil that I have never seen but it lays eggs on the hull and they burrow into the chestnut. I spray with Sevin but can't reach the tops of both trees and often see a lot of worms.Â* These little buggers can even bore through a plastic bag.Â* I'm sure I've eaten more than a few.Â* This year's crop appears clean.Â* You spray for 3-4 weeks weekly about 6 weeks before harvest. We tried growing everything without sprays, etc. and damned near died from what all was eating our gardens. Now we just spray and then wash stuff from the garden. It's hell trying to grown things "naturally" when the world is full of things that want to screw up your garden. Particularly when you're close enough to the harbor for Houston and all the junk the ships bring in. Some have destroyed crops that have been grown for a very long time. Then the gubmint says "You can't spray that, it might hurt the atmosphere or something else." Heck, I used to flag crop dusters as a kid with just a bandana tied over my face. I think all that "poison" is why I'm still around, sort of like being petrified or so0mething. VBG When your trees are fairly isolated from similar trees all the enemies surround them nearby.Â* I had trouble with apple worms and fungus when I had apple trees.Â* I used to bicycle past an orchard on Sunday mornings and saw them spraying.Â* Bet there was not a bug or fungus within a mile after they were done.Â* I also suspect they did not have to spray that often as it would take awhile before they were invaded by surrounding bugs. Probably same for squirrels when I tried to raise English walnuts.Â* If an orchard knocked their population down it would take a much longer time to recover than my trees surrounded by woods full of squirrels. I may be a chemist but do not believe in the liberal use of chemicals but in their judicious use. I made my living for sixteen years making chemicals, but not the type you're thinking of, just little stuff like benzene, etc. G After the 16 years as a grunt I moved into management with several different chemical plants and refineries. We were careful in handling the stuff and what we sold off to other companies had the proper paper work for handling them. Unfortunately lots of small companies made really bad chemicals for bugs, etc. that were two steppers, get a good bit of the chemical, walk two steps and fall over dead. Like you I am cautious about any over the counter or home made chemicals and read the cautions part four or five times. Breathing some of that stuff fifty years ago or so didn't help my health. Anyone that handles any kind of chemical, even the ones under the kitchen sink, needs to be fully aware of what happens if you breath it, drink it, or get it on you. Amen! No question. I am often telling my wife to be careful with her use of bleach and need for ventilation when cooking. I am very familiar with toxicology and have worked for years with toxicologists and their labs. Now retired I have written and been responsible for thousands of safety data sheets in my consulting. When working, my company often refused to sell chemicals to companies that could not handle them responsibly. |
october already!
On 10/2/2017 7:22 PM, Frank wrote:
On 10/2/2017 8:03 PM, George Shirley wrote: On 10/2/2017 5:54 PM, Frank wrote: On 10/2/2017 4:55 PM, George Shirley wrote: On 10/2/2017 11:21 AM, Frank wrote: On 10/2/2017 8:00 AM, George Shirley wrote: On 10/2/2017 6:33 AM, Frank wrote: On 10/1/2017 10:30 PM, songbird wrote: Frank wrote: ... I'm into chestnut season.Â* I don't save as many but like to shell and freeze to use with stuffing turkey. I'll chomp on them in the evening with a glass of wine but they last less than 2 months in the refrigerator as they do not keep like fatty nuts such as peanuts. Â*Â* i didn't think there were any of those trees still around any longer? I hate to leave them for the deer and the squirrels and saturate my friends with them.Â* Invited neighbors over today to pick up as much as they wanted. Â*Â* in the days before the fungi they were a major source of fodder for animals in the forest and many people would let pigs run to fatten up and then... Â*Â* songbird Mine are Chinese chestnuts.Â* The American chestnut is supposedly returning and a few years ago I tried a few of these chestnuts and they tasted the same.Â* I don't think the wood of the Chinese tree is as good as the American tree. I have never seen an American chestnut, don't think they grew in my part of Texas. Have eaten Chinese chestnuts, do they have the same taste? George It's been years since I tasted them.Â* I think taste was same as Chinese chestnuts and they were slightly smaller.Â* This was at friends hunting camp in central PA.Â* Guy that brought them in said they were American chestnuts. I tried to sell some to local market years ago but they refused as there is a worm problem.Â* There is a chestnut weevil that I have never seen but it lays eggs on the hull and they burrow into the chestnut. I spray with Sevin but can't reach the tops of both trees and often see a lot of worms.Â* These little buggers can even bore through a plastic bag.Â* I'm sure I've eaten more than a few.Â* This year's crop appears clean.Â* You spray for 3-4 weeks weekly about 6 weeks before harvest. We tried growing everything without sprays, etc. and damned near died from what all was eating our gardens. Now we just spray and then wash stuff from the garden. It's hell trying to grown things "naturally" when the world is full of things that want to screw up your garden. Particularly when you're close enough to the harbor for Houston and all the junk the ships bring in. Some have destroyed crops that have been grown for a very long time. Then the gubmint says "You can't spray that, it might hurt the atmosphere or something else." Heck, I used to flag crop dusters as a kid with just a bandana tied over my face. I think all that "poison" is why I'm still around, sort of like being petrified or so0mething. VBG When your trees are fairly isolated from similar trees all the enemies surround them nearby.Â* I had trouble with apple worms and fungus when I had apple trees.Â* I used to bicycle past an orchard on Sunday mornings and saw them spraying.Â* Bet there was not a bug or fungus within a mile after they were done.Â* I also suspect they did not have to spray that often as it would take awhile before they were invaded by surrounding bugs. Probably same for squirrels when I tried to raise English walnuts. If an orchard knocked their population down it would take a much longer time to recover than my trees surrounded by woods full of squirrels. I may be a chemist but do not believe in the liberal use of chemicals but in their judicious use. I made my living for sixteen years making chemicals, but not the type you're thinking of, just little stuff like benzene, etc. G After the 16 years as a grunt I moved into management with several different chemical plants and refineries. We were careful in handling the stuff and what we sold off to other companies had the proper paper work for handling them. Unfortunately lots of small companies made really bad chemicals for bugs, etc. that were two steppers, get a good bit of the chemical, walk two steps and fall over dead. Like you I am cautious about any over the counter or home made chemicals and read the cautions part four or five times. Breathing some of that stuff fifty years ago or so didn't help my health. Anyone that handles any kind of chemical, even the ones under the kitchen sink, needs to be fully aware of what happens if you breath it, drink it, or get it on you. Amen! No question.Â* I am often telling my wife to be careful with her use of bleach and need for ventilation when cooking. I do too, my wife often cooks without turning on the fan over the stove, goes straight out through the wall. She's an artist, does that ring a bell about safety? Years ago we lived in a small trailer house and I put in a fan above the stove in the wall. When we built our first home I sold the trailer and got an extra $100 bucks due to the fan, which cost something like ten bucks. In those days I made $2.50 an hour as a top operator in a chemical plant and ten bucks was a lot of money to us. Nowadays guys doing what I did in the sixties are making what sounds like big money but buys about the same amount of grub for us back then. I am very familiar with toxicology and have worked for years with toxicologists and their labs.Â* Now retired I have written and been responsible for thousands of safety data sheets in my consulting. When working, my company often refused to sell chemicals to companies that could not handle them responsibly. I hear that, happily I worked for years for Mobil, then moved on to some of the larger chemical and refining companies. As a safety professional I got several people fired for not doing their due diligence and have pulled wounded and dead out of something that should never have happened. You teach people the right way to do things and then they go dumb on you just once and kaboom! I'm glad I'm retired and don't have to do that anymore. We could certainly throw out some old stories over a cup of coffee. I go to reunions for a couple of companies, now all combined with the big boys, and we revisit our youth and some revisit their foolishness. I'm glad I'm retired. |
october already!
|
october already!
On 10/2/2017 9:26 PM, George Shirley wrote:
On 10/2/2017 7:22 PM, Frank wrote: On 10/2/2017 8:03 PM, George Shirley wrote: On 10/2/2017 5:54 PM, Frank wrote: On 10/2/2017 4:55 PM, George Shirley wrote: On 10/2/2017 11:21 AM, Frank wrote: On 10/2/2017 8:00 AM, George Shirley wrote: On 10/2/2017 6:33 AM, Frank wrote: On 10/1/2017 10:30 PM, songbird wrote: Frank wrote: ... I'm into chestnut season.Â* I don't save as many but like to shell and freeze to use with stuffing turkey. I'll chomp on them in the evening with a glass of wine but they last less than 2 months in the refrigerator as they do not keep like fatty nuts such as peanuts. Â*Â* i didn't think there were any of those trees still around any longer? I hate to leave them for the deer and the squirrels and saturate my friends with them.Â* Invited neighbors over today to pick up as much as they wanted. Â*Â* in the days before the fungi they were a major source of fodder for animals in the forest and many people would let pigs run to fatten up and then... Â*Â* songbird Mine are Chinese chestnuts.Â* The American chestnut is supposedly returning and a few years ago I tried a few of these chestnuts and they tasted the same.Â* I don't think the wood of the Chinese tree is as good as the American tree. I have never seen an American chestnut, don't think they grew in my part of Texas. Have eaten Chinese chestnuts, do they have the same taste? George It's been years since I tasted them.Â* I think taste was same as Chinese chestnuts and they were slightly smaller.Â* This was at friends hunting camp in central PA.Â* Guy that brought them in said they were American chestnuts. I tried to sell some to local market years ago but they refused as there is a worm problem.Â* There is a chestnut weevil that I have never seen but it lays eggs on the hull and they burrow into the chestnut. I spray with Sevin but can't reach the tops of both trees and often see a lot of worms.Â* These little buggers can even bore through a plastic bag.Â* I'm sure I've eaten more than a few. This year's crop appears clean.Â* You spray for 3-4 weeks weekly about 6 weeks before harvest. We tried growing everything without sprays, etc. and damned near died from what all was eating our gardens. Now we just spray and then wash stuff from the garden. It's hell trying to grown things "naturally" when the world is full of things that want to screw up your garden. Particularly when you're close enough to the harbor for Houston and all the junk the ships bring in. Some have destroyed crops that have been grown for a very long time. Then the gubmint says "You can't spray that, it might hurt the atmosphere or something else." Heck, I used to flag crop dusters as a kid with just a bandana tied over my face. I think all that "poison" is why I'm still around, sort of like being petrified or so0mething. VBG When your trees are fairly isolated from similar trees all the enemies surround them nearby.Â* I had trouble with apple worms and fungus when I had apple trees.Â* I used to bicycle past an orchard on Sunday mornings and saw them spraying.Â* Bet there was not a bug or fungus within a mile after they were done.Â* I also suspect they did not have to spray that often as it would take awhile before they were invaded by surrounding bugs. Probably same for squirrels when I tried to raise English walnuts. If an orchard knocked their population down it would take a much longer time to recover than my trees surrounded by woods full of squirrels. I may be a chemist but do not believe in the liberal use of chemicals but in their judicious use. I made my living for sixteen years making chemicals, but not the type you're thinking of, just little stuff like benzene, etc. G After the 16 years as a grunt I moved into management with several different chemical plants and refineries. We were careful in handling the stuff and what we sold off to other companies had the proper paper work for handling them. Unfortunately lots of small companies made really bad chemicals for bugs, etc. that were two steppers, get a good bit of the chemical, walk two steps and fall over dead. Like you I am cautious about any over the counter or home made chemicals and read the cautions part four or five times. Breathing some of that stuff fifty years ago or so didn't help my health. Anyone that handles any kind of chemical, even the ones under the kitchen sink, needs to be fully aware of what happens if you breath it, drink it, or get it on you. Amen! No question.Â* I am often telling my wife to be careful with her use of bleach and need for ventilation when cooking. I do too, my wife often cooks without turning on the fan over the stove, goes straight out through the wall. She's an artist, does that ring a bell about safety? Years ago we lived in a small trailer house and I put in a fan above the stove in the wall. When we built our first home I sold the trailer and got an extra $100 bucks due to the fan, which cost something like ten bucks. In those days I made $2.50 an hour as a top operator in a chemical plant and ten bucks was a lot of money to us. Nowadays guys doing what I did in the sixties are making what sounds like big money but buys about the same amount of grub for us back then. I am very familiar with toxicology and have worked for years with toxicologists and their labs.Â* Now retired I have written and been responsible for thousands of safety data sheets in my consulting. When working, my company often refused to sell chemicals to companies that could not handle them responsibly. I hear that, happily I worked for years for Mobil, then moved on to some of the larger chemical and refining companies. As a safety professional I got several people fired for not doing their due diligence and have pulled wounded and dead out of something that should never have happened. You teach people the right way to do things and then they go dumb on you just once and kaboom! I'm glad I'm retired and don't have to do that anymore. We could certainly throw out some old stories over a cup of coffee. I go to reunions for a couple of companies, now all combined with the big boys, and we revisit our youth and some revisit their foolishness. I'm glad I'm retired. I worked for DuPont in fibers and plastics R&D but spent the last 3 years as a regulatory affairs consultant. Had to take early retirement as company began to shrink. They are now Dow-DuPont. The years in regulatory gave me good experience to consult but that is now down to 1-2 days a month. Makes me stay current with computers and new rules. |
october already!
On 10/6/2017 5:51 PM, Frank wrote:
On 10/2/2017 9:26 PM, George Shirley wrote: On 10/2/2017 7:22 PM, Frank wrote: On 10/2/2017 8:03 PM, George Shirley wrote: On 10/2/2017 5:54 PM, Frank wrote: On 10/2/2017 4:55 PM, George Shirley wrote: On 10/2/2017 11:21 AM, Frank wrote: On 10/2/2017 8:00 AM, George Shirley wrote: On 10/2/2017 6:33 AM, Frank wrote: On 10/1/2017 10:30 PM, songbird wrote: Frank wrote: ... I'm into chestnut season.Â* I don't save as many but like to shell and freeze to use with stuffing turkey. I'll chomp on them in the evening with a glass of wine but they last less than 2 months in the refrigerator as they do not keep like fatty nuts such as peanuts. Â*Â* i didn't think there were any of those trees still around any longer? I hate to leave them for the deer and the squirrels and saturate my friends with them.Â* Invited neighbors over today to pick up as much as they wanted. Â*Â* in the days before the fungi they were a major source of fodder for animals in the forest and many people would let pigs run to fatten up and then... Â*Â* songbird Mine are Chinese chestnuts.Â* The American chestnut is supposedly returning and a few years ago I tried a few of these chestnuts and they tasted the same.Â* I don't think the wood of the Chinese tree is as good as the American tree. I have never seen an American chestnut, don't think they grew in my part of Texas. Have eaten Chinese chestnuts, do they have the same taste? George It's been years since I tasted them.Â* I think taste was same as Chinese chestnuts and they were slightly smaller.Â* This was at friends hunting camp in central PA.Â* Guy that brought them in said they were American chestnuts. I tried to sell some to local market years ago but they refused as there is a worm problem.Â* There is a chestnut weevil that I have never seen but it lays eggs on the hull and they burrow into the chestnut. I spray with Sevin but can't reach the tops of both trees and often see a lot of worms.Â* These little buggers can even bore through a plastic bag.Â* I'm sure I've eaten more than a few. This year's crop appears clean.Â* You spray for 3-4 weeks weekly about 6 weeks before harvest. We tried growing everything without sprays, etc. and damned near died from what all was eating our gardens. Now we just spray and then wash stuff from the garden. It's hell trying to grown things "naturally" when the world is full of things that want to screw up your garden. Particularly when you're close enough to the harbor for Houston and all the junk the ships bring in. Some have destroyed crops that have been grown for a very long time. Then the gubmint says "You can't spray that, it might hurt the atmosphere or something else." Heck, I used to flag crop dusters as a kid with just a bandana tied over my face. I think all that "poison" is why I'm still around, sort of like being petrified or so0mething. VBG When your trees are fairly isolated from similar trees all the enemies surround them nearby.Â* I had trouble with apple worms and fungus when I had apple trees.Â* I used to bicycle past an orchard on Sunday mornings and saw them spraying.Â* Bet there was not a bug or fungus within a mile after they were done.Â* I also suspect they did not have to spray that often as it would take awhile before they were invaded by surrounding bugs. Probably same for squirrels when I tried to raise English walnuts. If an orchard knocked their population down it would take a much longer time to recover than my trees surrounded by woods full of squirrels. I may be a chemist but do not believe in the liberal use of chemicals but in their judicious use. I made my living for sixteen years making chemicals, but not the type you're thinking of, just little stuff like benzene, etc. G After the 16 years as a grunt I moved into management with several different chemical plants and refineries. We were careful in handling the stuff and what we sold off to other companies had the proper paper work for handling them. Unfortunately lots of small companies made really bad chemicals for bugs, etc. that were two steppers, get a good bit of the chemical, walk two steps and fall over dead. Like you I am cautious about any over the counter or home made chemicals and read the cautions part four or five times. Breathing some of that stuff fifty years ago or so didn't help my health. Anyone that handles any kind of chemical, even the ones under the kitchen sink, needs to be fully aware of what happens if you breath it, drink it, or get it on you. Amen! No question.Â* I am often telling my wife to be careful with her use of bleach and need for ventilation when cooking. I do too, my wife often cooks without turning on the fan over the stove, goes straight out through the wall. She's an artist, does that ring a bell about safety? Years ago we lived in a small trailer house and I put in a fan above the stove in the wall. When we built our first home I sold the trailer and got an extra $100 bucks due to the fan, which cost something like ten bucks. In those days I made $2.50 an hour as a top operator in a chemical plant and ten bucks was a lot of money to us. Nowadays guys doing what I did in the sixties are making what sounds like big money but buys about the same amount of grub for us back then. I am very familiar with toxicology and have worked for years with toxicologists and their labs.Â* Now retired I have written and been responsible for thousands of safety data sheets in my consulting. When working, my company often refused to sell chemicals to companies that could not handle them responsibly. I hear that, happily I worked for years for Mobil, then moved on to some of the larger chemical and refining companies. As a safety professional I got several people fired for not doing their due diligence and have pulled wounded and dead out of something that should never have happened. You teach people the right way to do things and then they go dumb on you just once and kaboom! I'm glad I'm retired and don't have to do that anymore. We could certainly throw out some old stories over a cup of coffee. I go to reunions for a couple of companies, now all combined with the big boys, and we revisit our youth and some revisit their foolishness. I'm glad I'm retired. I worked for DuPont in fibers and plastics R&D but spent the last 3 years as a regulatory affairs consultant.Â* Had to take early retirement as company began to shrink.Â* They are now Dow-DuPont.Â* The years in regulatory gave me good experience to consult but that is now down to 1-2 days a month.Â* Makes me stay current with computers and new rules. I spent the last sixteen or seventeen years of my career as a lone safety professional, working from home. Wrote hundreds of safety manual's, had a goodly amount of small companies that worked for the big companies. Did their monthly safety meetings, wrote their safety manuals, visited the big chemical plants and refineries, etc. to do walk rounds to see if the client workers were working safely, etc. Enjoyed doing the job on my own until one day I started having strokes and heart attacks and finally had to retire. Gave my business to my best friend who I had been training for some time. He called me a couple of weeks ago, he turned 70 and turned the business over to his two sons to run. So it keeps going on, I hope, with teaching people to be safe. I'm a third generation worker in refineries, chemical plants, etc. and the only one who worked in safety. I don't miss making the rounds as my health is not so good, the reason I turned it over to my friend. Keep it up my friend, you may be saving lives and doing good. |
october already!
On 10/6/2017 9:23 PM, George Shirley wrote:
On 10/6/2017 5:51 PM, Frank wrote: On 10/2/2017 9:26 PM, George Shirley wrote: On 10/2/2017 7:22 PM, Frank wrote: On 10/2/2017 8:03 PM, George Shirley wrote: On 10/2/2017 5:54 PM, Frank wrote: On 10/2/2017 4:55 PM, George Shirley wrote: On 10/2/2017 11:21 AM, Frank wrote: On 10/2/2017 8:00 AM, George Shirley wrote: On 10/2/2017 6:33 AM, Frank wrote: On 10/1/2017 10:30 PM, songbird wrote: Frank wrote: ... I'm into chestnut season.Â* I don't save as many but like to shell and freeze to use with stuffing turkey. I'll chomp on them in the evening with a glass of wine but they last less than 2 months in the refrigerator as they do not keep like fatty nuts such as peanuts. Â*Â* i didn't think there were any of those trees still around any longer? I hate to leave them for the deer and the squirrels and saturate my friends with them.Â* Invited neighbors over today to pick up as much as they wanted. Â*Â* in the days before the fungi they were a major source of fodder for animals in the forest and many people would let pigs run to fatten up and then... Â*Â* songbird Mine are Chinese chestnuts.Â* The American chestnut is supposedly returning and a few years ago I tried a few of these chestnuts and they tasted the same.Â* I don't think the wood of the Chinese tree is as good as the American tree. I have never seen an American chestnut, don't think they grew in my part of Texas. Have eaten Chinese chestnuts, do they have the same taste? George It's been years since I tasted them.Â* I think taste was same as Chinese chestnuts and they were slightly smaller.Â* This was at friends hunting camp in central PA.Â* Guy that brought them in said they were American chestnuts. I tried to sell some to local market years ago but they refused as there is a worm problem.Â* There is a chestnut weevil that I have never seen but it lays eggs on the hull and they burrow into the chestnut. I spray with Sevin but can't reach the tops of both trees and often see a lot of worms.Â* These little buggers can even bore through a plastic bag.Â* I'm sure I've eaten more than a few. This year's crop appears clean.Â* You spray for 3-4 weeks weekly about 6 weeks before harvest. We tried growing everything without sprays, etc. and damned near died from what all was eating our gardens. Now we just spray and then wash stuff from the garden. It's hell trying to grown things "naturally" when the world is full of things that want to screw up your garden. Particularly when you're close enough to the harbor for Houston and all the junk the ships bring in. Some have destroyed crops that have been grown for a very long time. Then the gubmint says "You can't spray that, it might hurt the atmosphere or something else." Heck, I used to flag crop dusters as a kid with just a bandana tied over my face. I think all that "poison" is why I'm still around, sort of like being petrified or so0mething. VBG When your trees are fairly isolated from similar trees all the enemies surround them nearby.Â* I had trouble with apple worms and fungus when I had apple trees.Â* I used to bicycle past an orchard on Sunday mornings and saw them spraying.Â* Bet there was not a bug or fungus within a mile after they were done.Â* I also suspect they did not have to spray that often as it would take awhile before they were invaded by surrounding bugs. Probably same for squirrels when I tried to raise English walnuts. If an orchard knocked their population down it would take a much longer time to recover than my trees surrounded by woods full of squirrels. I may be a chemist but do not believe in the liberal use of chemicals but in their judicious use. I made my living for sixteen years making chemicals, but not the type you're thinking of, just little stuff like benzene, etc. G After the 16 years as a grunt I moved into management with several different chemical plants and refineries. We were careful in handling the stuff and what we sold off to other companies had the proper paper work for handling them. Unfortunately lots of small companies made really bad chemicals for bugs, etc. that were two steppers, get a good bit of the chemical, walk two steps and fall over dead. Like you I am cautious about any over the counter or home made chemicals and read the cautions part four or five times. Breathing some of that stuff fifty years ago or so didn't help my health. Anyone that handles any kind of chemical, even the ones under the kitchen sink, needs to be fully aware of what happens if you breath it, drink it, or get it on you. Amen! No question.Â* I am often telling my wife to be careful with her use of bleach and need for ventilation when cooking. I do too, my wife often cooks without turning on the fan over the stove, goes straight out through the wall. She's an artist, does that ring a bell about safety? Years ago we lived in a small trailer house and I put in a fan above the stove in the wall. When we built our first home I sold the trailer and got an extra $100 bucks due to the fan, which cost something like ten bucks. In those days I made $2.50 an hour as a top operator in a chemical plant and ten bucks was a lot of money to us. Nowadays guys doing what I did in the sixties are making what sounds like big money but buys about the same amount of grub for us back then. I am very familiar with toxicology and have worked for years with toxicologists and their labs.Â* Now retired I have written and been responsible for thousands of safety data sheets in my consulting. When working, my company often refused to sell chemicals to companies that could not handle them responsibly. I hear that, happily I worked for years for Mobil, then moved on to some of the larger chemical and refining companies. As a safety professional I got several people fired for not doing their due diligence and have pulled wounded and dead out of something that should never have happened. You teach people the right way to do things and then they go dumb on you just once and kaboom! I'm glad I'm retired and don't have to do that anymore. We could certainly throw out some old stories over a cup of coffee. I go to reunions for a couple of companies, now all combined with the big boys, and we revisit our youth and some revisit their foolishness. I'm glad I'm retired. I worked for DuPont in fibers and plastics R&D but spent the last 3 years as a regulatory affairs consultant.Â* Had to take early retirement as company began to shrink.Â* They are now Dow-DuPont.Â* The years in regulatory gave me good experience to consult but that is now down to 1-2 days a month.Â* Makes me stay current with computers and new rules. I spent the last sixteen or seventeen years of my career as a lone safety professional, working from home. Wrote hundreds of safety manual's, had a goodly amount of small companies that worked for the big companies. Did their monthly safety meetings, wrote their safety manuals, visited the big chemical plants and refineries, etc. to do walk rounds to see if the client workers were working safely, etc. Enjoyed doing the job on my own until one day I started having strokes and heart attacks and finally had to retire. Gave my business to my best friend who I had been training for some time. He called me a couple of weeks ago, he turned 70 and turned the business over to his two sons to run. So it keeps going on, I hope, with teaching people to be safe. I'm a third generation worker in refineries, chemical plants, etc. and the only one who worked in safety. I don't miss making the rounds as my health is not so good, the reason I turned it over to my friend. Keep it up my friend, you may be saving lives and doing good. My work dealt with safety of our polymer products. I was responsible for elastomers, Teflon finishes and acrylics and monomers that made them. I was department coordinator with our Haskell toxicology lab and a backup TSCA coordinator. I worked with business managers setting up product safety compliance reviews. We worked with company regulatory groups in Canada, Europe and Asia so I had to be familiar with rules in these areas. I had contacts with EPA, FDA and OSHA. When I was in R&D our outlook was limited to R&D, manufacturing and marketing with little contact with upper company management but regulatory had me working with several upper management layers and it was eye opening to learn business scope. Before I left R&D DuPont Central Research tried to get me for a couple of positions but since R&D was declining and these jobs were related to another department, they shoved their people there. Probably ended up better with gaining regulatory and safety skills as this lab is now kaput. |
october already!
On 10/7/2017 6:33 AM, Frank wrote:
On 10/6/2017 9:23 PM, George Shirley wrote: On 10/6/2017 5:51 PM, Frank wrote: On 10/2/2017 9:26 PM, George Shirley wrote: On 10/2/2017 7:22 PM, Frank wrote: On 10/2/2017 8:03 PM, George Shirley wrote: On 10/2/2017 5:54 PM, Frank wrote: On 10/2/2017 4:55 PM, George Shirley wrote: On 10/2/2017 11:21 AM, Frank wrote: On 10/2/2017 8:00 AM, George Shirley wrote: On 10/2/2017 6:33 AM, Frank wrote: On 10/1/2017 10:30 PM, songbird wrote: Frank wrote: ... I'm into chestnut season.Â* I don't save as many but like to shell and freeze to use with stuffing turkey. I'll chomp on them in the evening with a glass of wine but they last less than 2 months in the refrigerator as they do not keep like fatty nuts such as peanuts. Â*Â* i didn't think there were any of those trees still around any longer? I hate to leave them for the deer and the squirrels and saturate my friends with them.Â* Invited neighbors over today to pick up as much as they wanted. Â*Â* in the days before the fungi they were a major source of fodder for animals in the forest and many people would let pigs run to fatten up and then... Â*Â* songbird Mine are Chinese chestnuts.Â* The American chestnut is supposedly returning and a few years ago I tried a few of these chestnuts and they tasted the same.Â* I don't think the wood of the Chinese tree is as good as the American tree. I have never seen an American chestnut, don't think they grew in my part of Texas. Have eaten Chinese chestnuts, do they have the same taste? George It's been years since I tasted them.Â* I think taste was same as Chinese chestnuts and they were slightly smaller.Â* This was at friends hunting camp in central PA.Â* Guy that brought them in said they were American chestnuts. I tried to sell some to local market years ago but they refused as there is a worm problem.Â* There is a chestnut weevil that I have never seen but it lays eggs on the hull and they burrow into the chestnut. I spray with Sevin but can't reach the tops of both trees and often see a lot of worms.Â* These little buggers can even bore through a plastic bag.Â* I'm sure I've eaten more than a few. This year's crop appears clean.Â* You spray for 3-4 weeks weekly about 6 weeks before harvest. We tried growing everything without sprays, etc. and damned near died from what all was eating our gardens. Now we just spray and then wash stuff from the garden. It's hell trying to grown things "naturally" when the world is full of things that want to screw up your garden. Particularly when you're close enough to the harbor for Houston and all the junk the ships bring in. Some have destroyed crops that have been grown for a very long time. Then the gubmint says "You can't spray that, it might hurt the atmosphere or something else." Heck, I used to flag crop dusters as a kid with just a bandana tied over my face. I think all that "poison" is why I'm still around, sort of like being petrified or so0mething. VBG When your trees are fairly isolated from similar trees all the enemies surround them nearby.Â* I had trouble with apple worms and fungus when I had apple trees.Â* I used to bicycle past an orchard on Sunday mornings and saw them spraying.Â* Bet there was not a bug or fungus within a mile after they were done.Â* I also suspect they did not have to spray that often as it would take awhile before they were invaded by surrounding bugs. Probably same for squirrels when I tried to raise English walnuts. If an orchard knocked their population down it would take a much longer time to recover than my trees surrounded by woods full of squirrels. I may be a chemist but do not believe in the liberal use of chemicals but in their judicious use. I made my living for sixteen years making chemicals, but not the type you're thinking of, just little stuff like benzene, etc. G After the 16 years as a grunt I moved into management with several different chemical plants and refineries. We were careful in handling the stuff and what we sold off to other companies had the proper paper work for handling them. Unfortunately lots of small companies made really bad chemicals for bugs, etc. that were two steppers, get a good bit of the chemical, walk two steps and fall over dead. Like you I am cautious about any over the counter or home made chemicals and read the cautions part four or five times. Breathing some of that stuff fifty years ago or so didn't help my health. Anyone that handles any kind of chemical, even the ones under the kitchen sink, needs to be fully aware of what happens if you breath it, drink it, or get it on you. Amen! No question.Â* I am often telling my wife to be careful with her use of bleach and need for ventilation when cooking. I do too, my wife often cooks without turning on the fan over the stove, goes straight out through the wall. She's an artist, does that ring a bell about safety? Years ago we lived in a small trailer house and I put in a fan above the stove in the wall. When we built our first home I sold the trailer and got an extra $100 bucks due to the fan, which cost something like ten bucks. In those days I made $2.50 an hour as a top operator in a chemical plant and ten bucks was a lot of money to us. Nowadays guys doing what I did in the sixties are making what sounds like big money but buys about the same amount of grub for us back then. I am very familiar with toxicology and have worked for years with toxicologists and their labs.Â* Now retired I have written and been responsible for thousands of safety data sheets in my consulting. When working, my company often refused to sell chemicals to companies that could not handle them responsibly. I hear that, happily I worked for years for Mobil, then moved on to some of the larger chemical and refining companies. As a safety professional I got several people fired for not doing their due diligence and have pulled wounded and dead out of something that should never have happened. You teach people the right way to do things and then they go dumb on you just once and kaboom! I'm glad I'm retired and don't have to do that anymore. We could certainly throw out some old stories over a cup of coffee. I go to reunions for a couple of companies, now all combined with the big boys, and we revisit our youth and some revisit their foolishness. I'm glad I'm retired. I worked for DuPont in fibers and plastics R&D but spent the last 3 years as a regulatory affairs consultant.Â* Had to take early retirement as company began to shrink.Â* They are now Dow-DuPont.Â* The years in regulatory gave me good experience to consult but that is now down to 1-2 days a month.Â* Makes me stay current with computers and new rules. I spent the last sixteen or seventeen years of my career as a lone safety professional, working from home. Wrote hundreds of safety manual's, had a goodly amount of small companies that worked for the big companies. Did their monthly safety meetings, wrote their safety manuals, visited the big chemical plants and refineries, etc. to do walk rounds to see if the client workers were working safely, etc. Enjoyed doing the job on my own until one day I started having strokes and heart attacks and finally had to retire. Gave my business to my best friend who I had been training for some time. He called me a couple of weeks ago, he turned 70 and turned the business over to his two sons to run. So it keeps going on, I hope, with teaching people to be safe. I'm a third generation worker in refineries, chemical plants, etc. and the only one who worked in safety. I don't miss making the rounds as my health is not so good, the reason I turned it over to my friend. Keep it up my friend, you may be saving lives and doing good. My work dealt with safety of our polymer products.Â* I was responsible for elastomers, Teflon finishes and acrylics and monomers that made them.Â* I was department coordinator with our Haskell toxicology lab and a backup TSCA coordinator.Â* I worked with business managers setting up product safety compliance reviews.Â* We worked with company regulatory groups in Canada, Europe and Asia so I had to be familiar with rules in these areas.Â* I had contacts with EPA, FDA and OSHA. When I was in R&D our outlook was limited to R&D, manufacturing and marketing with little contact with upper company management but regulatory had me working with several upper management layers and it was eye opening to learn business scope. Before I left R&D DuPont Central Research tried to get me for a couple of positions but since R&D was declining and these jobs were related to another department, they shoved their people there.Â* Probably ended up better with gaining regulatory and safety skills as this lab is now kaput. I finally gave in and retired completely after seeing how bad some companies were and are still. Stopped writing safety manuals and just said the hell with it. I'm much happier and much healthier since I hung up my hard hat. Still have problems from long ago strokes and heart attacks but still kicking along at age 78. Just got my DNA test back last night and it is not what my parents claimed. I'm not a half breed Native American, only less than 1% Native, my folks claimed more. Of course there was no DNA tests when they were young and just knew what their parents told them. Dang! |
october already!
On 10/7/2017 7:43 AM, George Shirley wrote:
On 10/7/2017 6:33 AM, Frank wrote: On 10/6/2017 9:23 PM, George Shirley wrote: On 10/6/2017 5:51 PM, Frank wrote: On 10/2/2017 9:26 PM, George Shirley wrote: On 10/2/2017 7:22 PM, Frank wrote: On 10/2/2017 8:03 PM, George Shirley wrote: On 10/2/2017 5:54 PM, Frank wrote: On 10/2/2017 4:55 PM, George Shirley wrote: On 10/2/2017 11:21 AM, Frank wrote: On 10/2/2017 8:00 AM, George Shirley wrote: On 10/2/2017 6:33 AM, Frank wrote: On 10/1/2017 10:30 PM, songbird wrote: Frank wrote: ... I'm into chestnut season.Â* I don't save as many but like to shell and freeze to use with stuffing turkey. I'll chomp on them in the evening with a glass of wine but they last less than 2 months in the refrigerator as they do not keep like fatty nuts such as peanuts. Â*Â* i didn't think there were any of those trees still around any longer? I hate to leave them for the deer and the squirrels and saturate my friends with them.Â* Invited neighbors over today to pick up as much as they wanted. Â*Â* in the days before the fungi they were a major source of fodder for animals in the forest and many people would let pigs run to fatten up and then... Â*Â* songbird Mine are Chinese chestnuts.Â* The American chestnut is supposedly returning and a few years ago I tried a few of these chestnuts and they tasted the same.Â* I don't think the wood of the Chinese tree is as good as the American tree. I have never seen an American chestnut, don't think they grew in my part of Texas. Have eaten Chinese chestnuts, do they have the same taste? George It's been years since I tasted them.Â* I think taste was same as Chinese chestnuts and they were slightly smaller.Â* This was at friends hunting camp in central PA.Â* Guy that brought them in said they were American chestnuts. I tried to sell some to local market years ago but they refused as there is a worm problem.Â* There is a chestnut weevil that I have never seen but it lays eggs on the hull and they burrow into the chestnut. I spray with Sevin but can't reach the tops of both trees and often see a lot of worms. These little buggers can even bore through a plastic bag.Â* I'm sure I've eaten more than a few. This year's crop appears clean.Â* You spray for 3-4 weeks weekly about 6 weeks before harvest. We tried growing everything without sprays, etc. and damned near died from what all was eating our gardens. Now we just spray and then wash stuff from the garden. It's hell trying to grown things "naturally" when the world is full of things that want to screw up your garden. Particularly when you're close enough to the harbor for Houston and all the junk the ships bring in. Some have destroyed crops that have been grown for a very long time. Then the gubmint says "You can't spray that, it might hurt the atmosphere or something else." Heck, I used to flag crop dusters as a kid with just a bandana tied over my face. I think all that "poison" is why I'm still around, sort of like being petrified or so0mething. VBG When your trees are fairly isolated from similar trees all the enemies surround them nearby.Â* I had trouble with apple worms and fungus when I had apple trees.Â* I used to bicycle past an orchard on Sunday mornings and saw them spraying.Â* Bet there was not a bug or fungus within a mile after they were done.Â* I also suspect they did not have to spray that often as it would take awhile before they were invaded by surrounding bugs. Probably same for squirrels when I tried to raise English walnuts. If an orchard knocked their population down it would take a much longer time to recover than my trees surrounded by woods full of squirrels. I may be a chemist but do not believe in the liberal use of chemicals but in their judicious use. I made my living for sixteen years making chemicals, but not the type you're thinking of, just little stuff like benzene, etc. G After the 16 years as a grunt I moved into management with several different chemical plants and refineries. We were careful in handling the stuff and what we sold off to other companies had the proper paper work for handling them. Unfortunately lots of small companies made really bad chemicals for bugs, etc. that were two steppers, get a good bit of the chemical, walk two steps and fall over dead. Like you I am cautious about any over the counter or home made chemicals and read the cautions part four or five times. Breathing some of that stuff fifty years ago or so didn't help my health. Anyone that handles any kind of chemical, even the ones under the kitchen sink, needs to be fully aware of what happens if you breath it, drink it, or get it on you. Amen! No question.Â* I am often telling my wife to be careful with her use of bleach and need for ventilation when cooking. I do too, my wife often cooks without turning on the fan over the stove, goes straight out through the wall. She's an artist, does that ring a bell about safety? Years ago we lived in a small trailer house and I put in a fan above the stove in the wall. When we built our first home I sold the trailer and got an extra $100 bucks due to the fan, which cost something like ten bucks. In those days I made $2.50 an hour as a top operator in a chemical plant and ten bucks was a lot of money to us. Nowadays guys doing what I did in the sixties are making what sounds like big money but buys about the same amount of grub for us back then. I am very familiar with toxicology and have worked for years with toxicologists and their labs.Â* Now retired I have written and been responsible for thousands of safety data sheets in my consulting. When working, my company often refused to sell chemicals to companies that could not handle them responsibly. I hear that, happily I worked for years for Mobil, then moved on to some of the larger chemical and refining companies. As a safety professional I got several people fired for not doing their due diligence and have pulled wounded and dead out of something that should never have happened. You teach people the right way to do things and then they go dumb on you just once and kaboom! I'm glad I'm retired and don't have to do that anymore. We could certainly throw out some old stories over a cup of coffee. I go to reunions for a couple of companies, now all combined with the big boys, and we revisit our youth and some revisit their foolishness. I'm glad I'm retired. I worked for DuPont in fibers and plastics R&D but spent the last 3 years as a regulatory affairs consultant.Â* Had to take early retirement as company began to shrink.Â* They are now Dow-DuPont. The years in regulatory gave me good experience to consult but that is now down to 1-2 days a month.Â* Makes me stay current with computers and new rules. I spent the last sixteen or seventeen years of my career as a lone safety professional, working from home. Wrote hundreds of safety manual's, had a goodly amount of small companies that worked for the big companies. Did their monthly safety meetings, wrote their safety manuals, visited the big chemical plants and refineries, etc. to do walk rounds to see if the client workers were working safely, etc. Enjoyed doing the job on my own until one day I started having strokes and heart attacks and finally had to retire. Gave my business to my best friend who I had been training for some time. He called me a couple of weeks ago, he turned 70 and turned the business over to his two sons to run. So it keeps going on, I hope, with teaching people to be safe. I'm a third generation worker in refineries, chemical plants, etc. and the only one who worked in safety. I don't miss making the rounds as my health is not so good, the reason I turned it over to my friend. Keep it up my friend, you may be saving lives and doing good. My work dealt with safety of our polymer products.Â* I was responsible for elastomers, Teflon finishes and acrylics and monomers that made them.Â* I was department coordinator with our Haskell toxicology lab and a backup TSCA coordinator.Â* I worked with business managers setting up product safety compliance reviews.Â* We worked with company regulatory groups in Canada, Europe and Asia so I had to be familiar with rules in these areas.Â* I had contacts with EPA, FDA and OSHA. When I was in R&D our outlook was limited to R&D, manufacturing and marketing with little contact with upper company management but regulatory had me working with several upper management layers and it was eye opening to learn business scope. Before I left R&D DuPont Central Research tried to get me for a couple of positions but since R&D was declining and these jobs were related to another department, they shoved their people there.Â* Probably ended up better with gaining regulatory and safety skills as this lab is now kaput. I finally gave in and retired completely after seeing how bad some companies were and are still. Stopped writing safety manuals and just said the hell with it. I'm much happier and much healthier since I hung up my hard hat. Still have problems from long ago strokes and heart attacks but still kicking along at age 78. Just got my DNA test back last night and it is not what my parents claimed. I'm not a half breed Native American, only less than 1% Native, my folks claimed more. Of course there was no DNA tests when they were young and just knew what their parents told them. Dang! Interesting. I got mine back a couple of weeks ago and it was unusual. I thought I was half Italian and half Lithuanian but Italian part is only 20% and rest is central and eastern European. 14% European Jew which I guess means the tribes of that region that migrated to Europe. One daughter in laws sister is into genealogy and is a member of the DAR. She had the test and found 2% African and demanded her parents take the test to see where it came from. My daughter in law thinks this is funny and when I asked her what she thought she said it just means an ancestor was adventuresome. Our new granddaughter is 1% African and I told my lawyer son that it is good and would qualify her as a minority who could become a law professor at Harvard. |
october already!
On 10/7/2017 7:52 AM, Frank wrote:
I finally gave in and retired completely after seeing how bad some companies were and are still. Stopped writing safety manuals and just said the hell with it. I'm much happier and much healthier since I hung up my hard hat. Still have problems from long ago strokes and heart attacks but still kicking along at age 78. Just got my DNA test back last night and it is not what my parents claimed. I'm not a half breed Native American, only less than 1% Native, my folks claimed more. Of course there was no DNA tests when they were young and just knew what their parents told them. Dang! Interesting.Â* I got mine back a couple of weeks ago and it was unusual. I thought I was half Italian and half Lithuanian but Italian part is only 20% and rest is central and eastern European. 14% European Jew which I guess means the tribes of that region that migrated to Europe. One daughter in laws sister is into genealogy and is a member of the DAR.Â* She had the test and found 2% African and demanded her parents take the test to see where it came from.Â* My daughter in law thinks this is funny and when I asked her what she thought she said it just means an ancestor was adventuresome.Â* Our new granddaughter is 1% African and I told my lawyer son that it is good and would qualify her as a minority who could become a law professor at Harvard. In the south of the USA there are probably a tint of African blood in a lot of people. Could be even from when our family was still in the home land, overseas. I see nothing to worry about in my bloodline, just waiting for wife's DNA to come in. Her folks were mostly German and English so it should be interesting too. My folks and hers have been gone a good while. I have one half sister still living but in late eighties and lives in a nursing home now. We haven't spoken in 20 years or more and there won't be any before we are both gone. I'm hoping to go to sleep one night and not wake up. I've had enough surgeries, etc. and am still kicking, well, can't kick, can only walk on flat surfaces, but I can still get around with my cane so I'm happy. I have about a dozen canes, mostly bought when we were exploring Asia and Europe. Couldn't carry a gun so carried a heavy cane. My favorite cane rides in my car and has several nicks in the heavy lacquer that hides the iron wood. G |
october already!
On 10/7/2017 9:48 AM, George Shirley wrote:
On 10/7/2017 7:52 AM, Frank wrote: I finally gave in and retired completely after seeing how bad some companies were and are still. Stopped writing safety manuals and just said the hell with it. I'm much happier and much healthier since I hung up my hard hat. Still have problems from long ago strokes and heart attacks but still kicking along at age 78. Just got my DNA test back last night and it is not what my parents claimed. I'm not a half breed Native American, only less than 1% Native, my folks claimed more. Of course there was no DNA tests when they were young and just knew what their parents told them. Dang! Interesting.Â* I got mine back a couple of weeks ago and it was unusual. I thought I was half Italian and half Lithuanian but Italian part is only 20% and rest is central and eastern European. 14% European Jew which I guess means the tribes of that region that migrated to Europe. One daughter in laws sister is into genealogy and is a member of the DAR.Â* She had the test and found 2% African and demanded her parents take the test to see where it came from.Â* My daughter in law thinks this is funny and when I asked her what she thought she said it just means an ancestor was adventuresome.Â* Our new granddaughter is 1% African and I told my lawyer son that it is good and would qualify her as a minority who could become a law professor at Harvard. In the south of the USA there are probably a tint of African blood in a lot of people. Could be even from when our family was still in the home land, overseas. I see nothing to worry about in my bloodline, just waiting for wife's DNA to come in. Her folks were mostly German and English so it should be interesting too. My folks and hers have been gone a good while. I have one half sister still living but in late eighties and lives in a nursing home now. We haven't spoken in 20 years or more and there won't be any before we are both gone. I'm hoping to go to sleep one night and not wake up. I've had enough surgeries, etc. and am still kicking, well, can't kick, can only walk on flat surfaces, but I can still get around with my cane so I'm happy. I have about a dozen canes, mostly bought when we were exploring Asia and Europe. Couldn't carry a gun so carried a heavy cane. My favorite cane rides in my car and has several nicks in the heavy lacquer that hides the iron wood. G I was surprised that neither wife or I had any african trace. Her and a son had done theirs before me. Her parents were of Greek extraction born in Turkey. She had told me that I was responisble for the 7% European Jew in our son and I figured that her family lines were closer to that area but she was right. I sent my results to my brother and told him he did not need to get his. I still have all my facilities but they just do not work as well. I walked 2 miles this morning but was walking 4 last year. Kness started bothering me doing it every day. Mentioned that I am giving up hunting as all I have access to is public land and not being handicapped cannot hunt the closest stands. Last year I had to walk a mile and a quarter to reach the assigned stand in muzzle loader season. Also getting up at 3 am to get on the road by 4 and get there by 5 to claim stand drawn in lottery is no fun. I was almost late getting the stand because of road construction. Went to my shooting club yesterday after over 4 months and was surprised how poor shooting was until I started practicing. Things really get out of tune without practice. I do have early stage AMD which affects target accquisition. Most important to maintain is mental facilities. My father spent 5 years in a nursing home with multi infarct dementia after a stroke. He died at 88. One of my classmates, the best athlete, just died of dementia. He excelled in all sports but won a football scholarship to Maryland and was drafted by the pros. He only spent a year there as at 6 feet tall and only 200 pounds was too small. Could have been head trauma but I've seen it in a lot of non-athletic friends. Wife met our new family doctor yesterday and was given dementia test. She said this morning, "I don't think I needed that test, what do you think?" Then said, "Don't answer that." |
october already!
|
october already!
On 10/7/2017 12:39 PM, Frank wrote:
On 10/7/2017 9:48 AM, George Shirley wrote: On 10/7/2017 7:52 AM, Frank wrote: Interesting.Â* I got mine back a couple of weeks ago and it was unusual. I thought I was half Italian and half Lithuanian but Italian part is only 20% and rest is central and eastern European. 14% European Jew which I guess means the tribes of that region that migrated to Europe. One daughter in laws sister is into genealogy and is a member of the DAR.Â* She had the test and found 2% African and demanded her parents take the test to see where it came from.Â* My daughter in law thinks this is funny and when I asked her what she thought she said it just means an ancestor was adventuresome.Â* Our new granddaughter is 1% African and I told my lawyer son that it is good and would qualify her as a minority who could become a law professor at Harvard. I think it's funny too. Probably most folks including Swede's etc. have African blood. People are people when it comes to getting it on. I was surprised that neither wife or I had any african trace.Â* Her and a son had done theirs before me.Â* Her parents were of Greek extraction born in Turkey.Â* She had told me that I was responisble for the 7% European Jew in our son and I figured that her family lines were closer to that area but she was right.Â* I sent my results to my brother and told him he did not need to get his. That's the people are people thing again. Ma Nature is always at work. I still have all my facilities but they just do not work as well.Â* I walked 2 miles this morning but was walking 4 last year. Kness started bothering me doing it every day. Mentioned that I am giving up hunting as all I have access to is public land and not being handicapped cannot hunt the closest stands.Â* Last year I had to walk a mile and a quarter to reach the assigned stand in muzzle loader season.Â* Also getting up at 3 am to get on the road by 4 and get there by 5 to claim stand drawn in lottery is no fun.Â* I was almost late getting the stand because of road construction. Tell me about it, took one of those tests to see how smart you are many years ago, came out with an IQ of 145, I would bet now that it is half that now. G Went to my shooting club yesterday after over 4 months and was surprised how poor shooting was until I started practicing.Â* Things really get out of tune without practice.Â* I do have early stage AMD which affects target accquisition. I mentioned before, I think, I was a gunsmith, ran a gun shop, hunted every season, built my own guns from old military rifles, my favorite is a 6.5 that I built on a Italian rifle from WWII with a new barrel, stock, etc. Put down a lot of deer and hogs with it. Have five firearms and a pistol in the gun cabinet near by and just clean them annually. My grandsons want nothing to do with weapons or hunting so I will probably sell them one day. Can't walk in the field or woods, can't afford a hunting lease, don't want to go into public lands during hunting season since I saw the results in the newspaper. Life is a bitch and then you die. Old Texas words. Most important to maintain is mental facilities.Â* My father spent 5 years in a nursing home with multi infarct dementia after a stroke.Â* He died at 88.Â* One of my classmates, the best athlete, just died of dementia.Â* He excelled in all sports but won a football scholarship to Maryland and was drafted by the pros.Â* He only spent a year there as at 6 feet tall and only 200 pounds was too small.Â* Could have been head trauma but I've seen it in a lot of non-athletic friends. Wife met our new family doctor yesterday and was given dementia test. She said this morning, "I don't think I needed that test, what do you think?"Â* Then said, "Don't answer that." Mine does that occasionally, I just smile gently and go on about my business with the smile still on. I haven't had a dementia test, YET. |
october already!
On 10/7/2017 2:27 PM, George Shirley wrote:
On 10/7/2017 12:39 PM, Frank wrote: On 10/7/2017 9:48 AM, George Shirley wrote: On 10/7/2017 7:52 AM, Frank wrote: Interesting.Â* I got mine back a couple of weeks ago and it was unusual. I thought I was half Italian and half Lithuanian but Italian part is only 20% and rest is central and eastern European. 14% European Jew which I guess means the tribes of that region that migrated to Europe. One daughter in laws sister is into genealogy and is a member of the DAR.Â* She had the test and found 2% African and demanded her parents take the test to see where it came from.Â* My daughter in law thinks this is funny and when I asked her what she thought she said it just means an ancestor was adventuresome.Â* Our new granddaughter is 1% African and I told my lawyer son that it is good and would qualify her as a minority who could become a law professor at Harvard. I think it's funny too. Probably most folks including Swede's etc. have African blood. People are people when it comes to getting it on. I was surprised that neither wife or I had any african trace.Â* Her and a son had done theirs before me.Â* Her parents were of Greek extraction born in Turkey.Â* She had told me that I was responisble for the 7% European Jew in our son and I figured that her family lines were closer to that area but she was right.Â* I sent my results to my brother and told him he did not need to get his. That's the people are people thing again. Ma Nature is always at work. I still have all my facilities but they just do not work as well.Â* I walked 2 miles this morning but was walking 4 last year. Kness started bothering me doing it every day. Mentioned that I am giving up hunting as all I have access to is public land and not being handicapped cannot hunt the closest stands.Â* Last year I had to walk a mile and a quarter to reach the assigned stand in muzzle loader season.Â* Also getting up at 3 am to get on the road by 4 and get there by 5 to claim stand drawn in lottery is no fun.Â* I was almost late getting the stand because of road construction. Tell me about it, took one of those tests to see how smart you are many years ago, came out with an IQ of 145, I would bet now that it is half that now. G Went to my shooting club yesterday after over 4 months and was surprised how poor shooting was until I started practicing.Â* Things really get out of tune without practice.Â* I do have early stage AMD which affects target accquisition. I mentioned before, I think, I was a gunsmith, ran a gun shop, hunted every season, built my own guns from old military rifles, my favorite is a 6.5 that I built on a Italian rifle from WWII with a new barrel, stock, etc. Put down a lot of deer and hogs with it. Have five firearms and a pistol in the gun cabinet near by and just clean them annually. My grandsons want nothing to do with weapons or hunting so I will probably sell them one day. Can't walk in the field or woods, can't afford a hunting lease, don't want to go into public lands during hunting season since I saw the results in the newspaper.Â* Life is a bitch and then you die. Old Texas words. Most important to maintain is mental facilities.Â* My father spent 5 years in a nursing home with multi infarct dementia after a stroke. He died at 88.Â* One of my classmates, the best athlete, just died of dementia.Â* He excelled in all sports but won a football scholarship to Maryland and was drafted by the pros.Â* He only spent a year there as at 6 feet tall and only 200 pounds was too small.Â* Could have been head trauma but I've seen it in a lot of non-athletic friends. Wife met our new family doctor yesterday and was given dementia test. She said this morning, "I don't think I needed that test, what do you think?"Â* Then said, "Don't answer that." Mine does that occasionally, I just smile gently and go on about my business with the smile still on. I haven't had a dementia test, YET. Forgot about your gun business. Our sons take no interest in hunting but all have guns as do the married ones wives. One's father in law is retired and has a thriving holster business. Makes them out of Kydex and if he cannot get a model for the mold but enough orders he buys them for his company tax exempt. Our new family doctor appears very young and probably just follows latest medicare mandate on the test and I would not be surprised if you could google up the test and find all the questions and answers. I like what one elderly woman told me, that her hard drive was so full, it took longer to retrieve the answer. |
october already!
On 10/7/2017 6:31 PM, Frank wrote:
On 10/7/2017 2:27 PM, George Shirley wrote: On 10/7/2017 12:39 PM, Frank wrote: On 10/7/2017 9:48 AM, George Shirley wrote: On 10/7/2017 7:52 AM, Frank wrote: Interesting.Â* I got mine back a couple of weeks ago and it was unusual. I thought I was half Italian and half Lithuanian but Italian part is only 20% and rest is central and eastern European. 14% European Jew which I guess means the tribes of that region that migrated to Europe. One daughter in laws sister is into genealogy and is a member of the DAR.Â* She had the test and found 2% African and demanded her parents take the test to see where it came from.Â* My daughter in law thinks this is funny and when I asked her what she thought she said it just means an ancestor was adventuresome.Â* Our new granddaughter is 1% African and I told my lawyer son that it is good and would qualify her as a minority who could become a law professor at Harvard. I think it's funny too. Probably most folks including Swede's etc. have African blood. People are people when it comes to getting it on. I was surprised that neither wife or I had any african trace.Â* Her and a son had done theirs before me.Â* Her parents were of Greek extraction born in Turkey.Â* She had told me that I was responisble for the 7% European Jew in our son and I figured that her family lines were closer to that area but she was right.Â* I sent my results to my brother and told him he did not need to get his. That's the people are people thing again. Ma Nature is always at work. I still have all my facilities but they just do not work as well.Â* I walked 2 miles this morning but was walking 4 last year. Kness started bothering me doing it every day. Mentioned that I am giving up hunting as all I have access to is public land and not being handicapped cannot hunt the closest stands.Â* Last year I had to walk a mile and a quarter to reach the assigned stand in muzzle loader season.Â* Also getting up at 3 am to get on the road by 4 and get there by 5 to claim stand drawn in lottery is no fun.Â* I was almost late getting the stand because of road construction. Tell me about it, took one of those tests to see how smart you are many years ago, came out with an IQ of 145, I would bet now that it is half that now. G Went to my shooting club yesterday after over 4 months and was surprised how poor shooting was until I started practicing.Â* Things really get out of tune without practice.Â* I do have early stage AMD which affects target accquisition. I mentioned before, I think, I was a gunsmith, ran a gun shop, hunted every season, built my own guns from old military rifles, my favorite is a 6.5 that I built on a Italian rifle from WWII with a new barrel, stock, etc. Put down a lot of deer and hogs with it. Have five firearms and a pistol in the gun cabinet near by and just clean them annually. My grandsons want nothing to do with weapons or hunting so I will probably sell them one day. Can't walk in the field or woods, can't afford a hunting lease, don't want to go into public lands during hunting season since I saw the results in the newspaper.Â* Life is a bitch and then you die. Old Texas words. Most important to maintain is mental facilities.Â* My father spent 5 years in a nursing home with multi infarct dementia after a stroke. He died at 88.Â* One of my classmates, the best athlete, just died of dementia.Â* He excelled in all sports but won a football scholarship to Maryland and was drafted by the pros.Â* He only spent a year there as at 6 feet tall and only 200 pounds was too small.Â* Could have been head trauma but I've seen it in a lot of non-athletic friends. Wife met our new family doctor yesterday and was given dementia test. She said this morning, "I don't think I needed that test, what do you think?"Â* Then said, "Don't answer that." Mine does that occasionally, I just smile gently and go on about my business with the smile still on. I haven't had a dementia test, YET. Forgot about your gun business.Â* Our sons take no interest in hunting but all have guns as do the married ones wives.Â* One's father in law is retired and has a thriving holster business.Â* Makes them out of Kydex and if he cannot get a model for the mold but enough orders he buys them for his company tax exempt. Our new family doctor appears very young and probably just follows latest medicare mandate on the test and I would not be surprised if you could google up the test and find all the questions and answers. I like what one elderly woman told me, that her hard drive was so full, it took longer to retrieve the answer. I believe that too, was trying to remember where I put my old family genealogy and couldn't find it nor could I remember what it was. I think I know where a hidden copy is on this computer so I will look for it tomorrow and see if it is possible to get to it. Lost a couple of computers a while back but managed to get the stuff needed most back, I think. Here's the old geezer who, as a child and grown man too could find anything I ever had. I hate forgetting stuff but I guess it goes with getting older and older. I don't mind getting old, but I don't like my mind going whacky. |
october already!
|
october already!
On 10/13/2017 2:28 PM, George Shirley wrote:
On 10/13/2017 1:05 PM, wrote: songbird wrote: Â* i'm not sure where September went.Â* too quickly by for sure... Â*Â*Â*Â*Yep, and October keeps on slip slip slipping into the future, too. Something et the Slenderette bean bush babies last night.Â* Not a cutworm; cutworm would have left the tops behind.Â* I'm thinking grasshopper or, maybe the furry soft-bodied thing that 's eating a Delinel seedling top over in another bed ;-)Â* Assuming it had walked a good distance to get there, I left it undisturbed.Â* Got a photo, though. If I can identify the beast, I'll be more able to determine whether just to plan on re-planting the Delinels,Â* too, and letting the beast have its way with these.Â* I mean, everything has to eat.Â* Only problem is that, if this is _not_ a typically warm autumn, I'm running out of time for the beans.Â* Been a while since I had to make a fire before late November but I remember some cold-ass halloweens, too.Â* The weather already has begun to cool: Right now {13 Oct.12:31 P (13:31)}, it's 86°(F) on my always shaded front porch; overnight low (same location, same t'meter) was 75°(F). Here in Harris Cty, TX it is alarming if we get a freeze before November and, sometimes, December, and, the occasional, "where the heck did winter go?" We're getting a few mornings with 63F and by noon it's over 90F. I don't miss cold weather but it does kill a few bugs when it comes in. We're getting more mosquitoes than usual for this time of year and we still have mosquito hawks thank goodness. I lived for a short while in Virginia, Maryland, and Rhode Island as a young sailor so I don't really care for: A: snow, B: ice storms, C: cold north winds, going into the far Arctic seas aboard an old WWII destroyer with only the boilers for heat. It would help kill skeeters, etc. if we got at least a short frost. G At our age, I don't think we can tolerate as much cold and heat as we did when younger. Warm climate is better but you need AC. We seldom get 90 degree days but at start of summer when my AC would not come on I got a backup portable AC and with power losses I have a backup generator. I don't like snow much either but at least don't have to shovel it every week. I remember my first trip to southern California watching my brother in law cut grass in January. Speaking of mosquitoes, I hear they are the state bird in Alaska. Who would have thought that? I had a coworker from Maine who got transferred to one of our plants on the Gulf and hated it. Said he just ran from AC in house to AC in car to AC at work. Twice a year they left the house to the exterminator to get all the bugs. |
october already!
On 10/13/2017 2:14 PM, Frank wrote:
On 10/13/2017 2:28 PM, George Shirley wrote: On 10/13/2017 1:05 PM, wrote: songbird wrote: Â* i'm not sure where September went.Â* too quickly by for sure... Â*Â*Â*Â*Yep, and October keeps on slip slip slipping into the future, too. Something et the Slenderette bean bush babies last night.Â* Not a cutworm; cutworm would have left the tops behind.Â* I'm thinking grasshopper or, maybe the furry soft-bodied thing that 's eating a Delinel seedling top over in another bed ;-)Â* Assuming it had walked a good distance to get there, I left it undisturbed.Â* Got a photo, though. If I can identify the beast, I'll be more able to determine whether just to plan on re-planting the Delinels,Â* too, and letting the beast have its way with these.Â* I mean, everything has to eat.Â* Only problem is that, if this is _not_ a typically warm autumn, I'm running out of time for the beans.Â* Been a while since I had to make a fire before late November but I remember some cold-ass halloweens, too.Â* The weather already has begun to cool: Right now {13 Oct.12:31 P (13:31)}, it's 86°(F) on my always shaded front porch; overnight low (same location, same t'meter) was 75°(F). Here in Harris Cty, TX it is alarming if we get a freeze before November and, sometimes, December, and, the occasional, "where the heck did winter go?" We're getting a few mornings with 63F and by noon it's over 90F. I don't miss cold weather but it does kill a few bugs when it comes in. We're getting more mosquitoes than usual for this time of year and we still have mosquito hawks thank goodness. I lived for a short while in Virginia, Maryland, and Rhode Island as a young sailor so I don't really care for: A: snow, B: ice storms, C: cold north winds, going into the far Arctic seas aboard an old WWII destroyer with only the boilers for heat. It would help kill skeeters, etc. if we got at least a short frost. G At our age, I don't think we can tolerate as much cold and heat as we did when younger.Â* Warm climate is better but you need AC.Â* We seldom get 90 degree days but at start of summer when my AC would not come on I got a backup portable AC and with power losses I have a backup generator. When we were hit in Houston with hurricanes, heavy flooding, etc. I was happy, live just a few miles from The Woodlands and, as usual, I bought on high ground, have done that since we were married in 1960. Here in this subdivision we never lost electricity, a little high winds and 60 inches of rain, we never flooded either, and, as soon as the rain stopped for a bit, the retention pond behind our home emptied out quickly. So far, so good, we shall see when the next storms come by. I don't like snow much either but at least don't have to shovel it every week.Â* I remember my first trip to southern California watching my brother in law cut grass in January. I was eighteen years old when I first saw snow, almost got in trouble because an Admiral was walking by and saw me playing in the snow instead of checking into my squadron. At least he was a nice guy. My wife just finished mowing the small lawn we have. The mower runs faster than I can walk nowadays so I cook, clean house and wash clothes. Sort of a turn about but we both like it. We will only stop mowing every two weeks if we get a cold snap, otherwise, cut the grass, toss in the composter, do it again in a couple of weeks. Our spring and fall gardens are the same, still producing. Speaking of mosquitoes, I hear they are the state bird in Alaska.Â* Who would have thought that? I spent a few days in Alaska once, guy told me the skeeters carried his wife off, thank goodness. G I had a coworker from Maine who got transferred to one of our plants on the Gulf and hated it.Â* Said he just ran from AC in house to AC in car to AC at work.Â* Twice a year they left the house to the exterminator to get all the bugs. I know very few people who don't have AC in house and car and also have fans in the house. If it gets higher than 100F in the house you bring in more fans and crank up the AC. I just moved ours to 76F, was at 80F, and I was baking bacon for my wife. Then when she needs bacon she just heats it up. She loves the bacon on anything. Six lbs of top bacon is now precooked and in the freezer. Saves time when you want it and takes time for it to get that way. Cooking bacon makes the dog dance too but she gets very little of it. That all being said, I grew up in the forties and fifties in homes without AC. Came home from boot camp and my folks had AC. Asked why, Dad said after you left we had enough money for the AC, as if I ate that much. G He was sort of shocked anyway, I left home at 5'6", weighed 160, came home at 5'8" and weighed 145. Only got fat again when I married in 1960, now I'm hanging around 206 and am at 5'6" again. Doc says it's because of the couple of vertebrae, one missing, the other squashed. I think it's old age myself. I think we're going to have a late fall this year what with all the strange weather, two hurricanes, etc. I'm sure glad I don't live in Houston, it's not called the "Bayou City" for nothing, I don't understand people who want to build homes on water and then gripe when it gets washed away, particularly this close to the Gulf of Mexico. |
october already!
On 10/13/2017 4:28 PM, George Shirley wrote:
On 10/13/2017 2:14 PM, Frank wrote: On 10/13/2017 2:28 PM, George Shirley wrote: On 10/13/2017 1:05 PM, wrote: songbird wrote: Â* i'm not sure where September went.Â* too quickly by for sure... Â*Â*Â*Â*Yep, and October keeps on slip slip slipping into the future, too. Something et the Slenderette bean bush babies last night.Â* Not a cutworm; cutworm would have left the tops behind.Â* I'm thinking grasshopper or, maybe the furry soft-bodied thing that 's eating a Delinel seedling top over in another bed ;-)Â* Assuming it had walked a good distance to get there, I left it undisturbed.Â* Got a photo, though. If I can identify the beast, I'll be more able to determine whether just to plan on re-planting the Delinels,Â* too, and letting the beast have its way with these.Â* I mean, everything has to eat.Â* Only problem is that, if this is _not_ a typically warm autumn, I'm running out of time for the beans.Â* Been a while since I had to make a fire before late November but I remember some cold-ass halloweens, too.Â* The weather already has begun to cool: Right now {13 Oct.12:31 P (13:31)}, it's 86°(F) on my always shaded front porch; overnight low (same location, same t'meter) was 75°(F). Here in Harris Cty, TX it is alarming if we get a freeze before November and, sometimes, December, and, the occasional, "where the heck did winter go?" We're getting a few mornings with 63F and by noon it's over 90F. I don't miss cold weather but it does kill a few bugs when it comes in. We're getting more mosquitoes than usual for this time of year and we still have mosquito hawks thank goodness. I lived for a short while in Virginia, Maryland, and Rhode Island as a young sailor so I don't really care for: A: snow, B: ice storms, C: cold north winds, going into the far Arctic seas aboard an old WWII destroyer with only the boilers for heat. It would help kill skeeters, etc. if we got at least a short frost. G At our age, I don't think we can tolerate as much cold and heat as we did when younger.Â* Warm climate is better but you need AC.Â* We seldom get 90 degree days but at start of summer when my AC would not come on I got a backup portable AC and with power losses I have a backup generator. When we were hit in Houston with hurricanes, heavy flooding, etc. I was happy, live just a few miles from The Woodlands and, as usual, I bought on high ground, have done that since we were married in 1960. Here in this subdivision we never lost electricity, a little high winds and 60 inches of rain, we never flooded either, and, as soon as the rain stopped for a bit, the retention pond behind our home emptied out quickly. So far, so good, we shall see when the next storms come by. I don't like snow much either but at least don't have to shovel it every week.Â* I remember my first trip to southern California watching my brother in law cut grass in January. I was eighteen years old when I first saw snow, almost got in trouble because an Admiral was walking by and saw me playing in the snow instead of checking into my squadron. At least he was a nice guy. My wife just finished mowing the small lawn we have. The mower runs faster than I can walk nowadays so I cook, clean house and wash clothes. Sort of a turn about but we both like it. We will only stop mowing every two weeks if we get a cold snap, otherwise, cut the grass, toss in the composter, do it again in a couple of weeks. Our spring and fall gardens are the same, still producing. Speaking of mosquitoes, I hear they are the state bird in Alaska.Â* Who would have thought that? I spent a few days in Alaska once, guy told me the skeeters carried his wife off, thank goodness. G I had a coworker from Maine who got transferred to one of our plants on the Gulf and hated it.Â* Said he just ran from AC in house to AC in car to AC at work.Â* Twice a year they left the house to the exterminator to get all the bugs. I know very few people who don't have AC in house and car and also have fans in the house. If it gets higher than 100F in the house you bring in more fans and crank up the AC. I just moved ours to 76F, was at 80F, and I was baking bacon for my wife. Then when she needs bacon she just heats it up. She loves the bacon on anything. Six lbs of top bacon is now precooked and in the freezer. Saves time when you want it and takes time for it to get that way. Cooking bacon makes the dog dance too but she gets very little of it. That all being said, I grew up in the forties and fifties in homes without AC. Came home from boot camp and my folks had AC. Asked why, Dad said after you left we had enough money for the AC, as if I ate that much. G He was sort of shocked anyway, I left home at 5'6", weighed 160, came home at 5'8" and weighed 145. Only got fat again when I married in 1960, now I'm hanging around 206 and am at 5'6" again. Doc says it's because of the couple of vertebrae, one missing, the other squashed. I think it's old age myself. I think we're going to have a late fall this year what with all the strange weather, two hurricanes, etc. I'm sure glad I don't live in Houston, it's not called the "Bayou City" for nothing, I don't understand people who want to build homes on water and then gripe when it gets washed away, particularly this close to the Gulf of Mexico. I can't keep the weight off either and have also shrunk an inch. I thought a doctor, pulmonologist, cheated me weighing me with my shoes on but measuring me with my shoes off. Have a new family doctor I have yet to meet but this month have an appointment with an AMD specialist, dentist and cardiologist. At our age, going to the doctor and having tests run are our social life. My brother lives in lower Delaware three miles from the ocean but wants to move inland because of the hustle and bustle in summer. Think he is safe from being washed away. The joke going around in Puerto Rico is that they believe after the visits of hurricanes, Jose and Maria, they are due for a visit by the baby Jesus. (Most should know this but Jose and Maria are Spanish for Joseph and Mary). My Puerto Rican neighbor told me this. He likes living off the island out of the hurricane path and prefers cold weather. Unfortunately they are moving to Flagstaff and he might not like the 5+ feet of snow they get in the winter. |
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